An entertaining, thoughtful take on the odd-couple romance.
A New York book editor travels west to track down the reclusive author of a bestseller in this debut romance.
The prestigious titles published by New York’s Banter House Books don’t include anything like Rancho de Amor, a romance that’s become a huge, bestselling sensation by first-time author Loretta de Bonnair. With Banter House verging on financial collapse, it would love to publish de Bonnair’s next moneymaking novel, a difficult prospect since she’s older, gives no interviews, and has no contact information. All anyone knows is that she lives in tiny Sisquoc, California, so that’s where Banter House book editor Catherine Doyle, a 28-year-old brunette, heads when she gets the uncongenial assignment to find and sign de Bonnair. In Sisquoc, Catherine learns that no one knows how to contact the romance writer. No one, that is, but handsome, blue-eyed, brooding ranch manager Sam Wilson, who promises to act as go-between for Catherine and a rival press. Since Catherine first meets Sam as he’s getting thrown out of a bar, he doesn’t make a great first impression. To their mutual surprise, they’re attracted—but Sam has secrets of his own that could derail everything. In his novel, Harder tells a fairly familiar opposites-attract story that is boosted by its clever central mystery. The couple’s obstacles are unsurprising—she’s wary of passion; he hasn’t found the right woman to love—but emotional moments are described lyrically, and the book is insightful about issues like de Bonnair’s displeasing locals with her “environmentalism and socialism.” Quirky details also amuse: a B&B bedroom filled with taxidermic roadkill, an academic study titled “Hay Bales, Heifers, and a Feminist Hermeneutic of the Heroine in de Bonnair’s Rancho de Amor,” and a local poetaster.
An entertaining, thoughtful take on the odd-couple romance.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5132-6431-8
Page Count: 246
Publisher: West Margin Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Sink your teeth into this delightful paranormal romance with a modern twist.
A vampire and an Alpha werewolf enter into a marriage of convenience in order to ease tensions between their species.
As the only daughter of a prominent Vampyre councilman, Misery Lark has grown accustomed to playing the role that’s demanded of her—and now, her father is ordering her to be part of yet another truce agreement. In an effort to maintain goodwill between the Vampyres and their longtime nemeses the Weres, Misery must wed their Alpha, Lowe Moreland. But it turns out that Misery has her own motivations for agreeing to this political marriage, including finding answers about what happened to her best friend, who went missing after setting up a meeting in Were territory. Isolated from her kind and surrounded on all sides by the enemy after the wedding, Misery refuses to let herself forget about her real mission. It doesn’t matter that Lowe is one of the most confounding and intense people she’s ever met, or that the connection building between them doesn’t feel like one born entirely of convenience. There’s also the possibility that Lowe may already have a Were mate of his own, but in spite of their biological differences, they may turn out to be the missing piece in each other’s lives. While this is Hazelwood’s first paranormal romance, and the book does lean on some hallmark tropes of the genre, the contemporary setting lends itself to the author’s trademark humor and makes the political plot more easily digestible. Misery and Lowe’s slow-burn romance is appealing enough that readers will readily devour every moment between them and hunger to return to them whenever the story diverts from their scenes together.
Sink your teeth into this delightful paranormal romance with a modern twist.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9780593550403
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
A charming dual-timeline romance about learning from past mistakes.
In Yarros’ latest romance novel, a young woman hires a handsome but infuriating writer to complete her late great-grandmother’s half-finished book.
After her marriage to a Hollywood producer ends in high-profile divorce, 28-year-old Georgia Stanton returns to her childhood home in Colorado. When she arrives at the house where she was raised by her great-grandma—the famous romance author Scarlett Stanton—she finds her mother, Ava, lying in wait. Georgia is in possession of the only unfinished manuscript that her deceased relative left behind, and her own mom wants her to sell the rights so they can get some cash. Georgia succumbs to the pressure and enters a deal in which another author will finish the book’s second half. The manuscript tells Scarlett’s life story, including how she found, and lost, her one true love. Georgia feels strongly that the finished novel must reflect the true events of Scarlett’s life, as difficult as they may have been. Unfortunately, the publishers hire Noah Harrison, a stubborn writer at the height of his career, who has his own fictional vision for the novel’s ending. As Noah and Georgia butt heads, each of them researches Scarlett’s history in England during World War II. As they learn more about Scarlett and Jameson Stanton, the fighter pilot she loved, Georgia and Noah must navigate their own increasingly complicated relationship. With two equally engrossing storylines, this book will draw in even seasoned romance readers. As the story jumps between past and present, the author also alternates present-day perspectives between Georgia and Noah, moving deftly between her characters’ distinct voices. The relationships are well developed, and the love that Scarlett felt for Jameson is especially palpable. Along with the sweetly romantic themes, the book explores several heftier topics, including personal ambition, grief, family discord, and self-esteem. The story has a few digressions that do little to advance the plot, but the main characters are sufficiently engrossing that readers will want to stick with them to the end.
A charming dual-timeline romance about learning from past mistakes.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68281-566-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK TO SCREEN
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