Questions of race, class, and sexism test the possibility of a happy-ever-after in this interracial romance.
A curvy businesswoman running a boudoir-photography studio must collaborate with a male rival for an unexpected project in this debut romance.
When her pregnant best friend, who’s launching a size-inclusive collection of lingerie for a larger brand, proposes that Black photographer Cassie Harris pose for the ad campaign instead of taking the pictures, she’s leery, especially if it means being photographed by the White male competitor who often edges her out for jobs. Reid Montgomery has skill, but he’s used to skating by on his charm and doing what clients expect, mimicking his personal life of casual ties courtesy of emotionally uninvolved parents and a ne’er-do-well sibling. The lucrative offer to feature Cassie in a lingerie shoot in which she’d get art director credit while Reid secretly ensures the parent company’s traditional vision offers a tempting opportunity for both of them. Despite their attraction, Cassie is wary of sharing top billing with someone who’s been in the way of her success before, while Reid worries about his secret deal with the lingerie company executives—and its inevitable revelation threatens to split apart their budding relationship, professional and erotic. Set in Chicago, which functions as a romantic backdrop to location-hunting and photo shoots, and with a multiracial and queer supporting cast, this debut has a lot of promise. Cassie’s background as the artistic child of high-achieving and wealthy parents challenges racial stereotypes, as does Reid’s history of being a popular photographer from a dysfunctional home who’s slow to recognize his racial privilege. The infodumping about their lives and the heavy-handedness of Cassie’s having to explain why it’s hard to be a Black entrepreneur and artist are balanced out by scenes of sexual chemistry between the leads and affection between Cassie and her circle of friends and co-workers. While the crisis precipitated by Reid's hidden agenda is telegraphed almost from the start, it’s a structural weakness that is resolved effectively by his eventual big gesture.
Questions of race, class, and sexism test the possibility of a happy-ever-after in this interracial romance.Pub Date: July 19, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-43733-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
A romance that could have used significant rethinking.
Childhood friends, almost-sweethearts, a misunderstanding, and a funeral.
Blair Lang and Declan Renshaw were best friends who went on one date before a disagreement and an accident sent them in different directions after high school. Now Blair is back from college to be with her great-aunt Lottie, who’s dying, and to support her single mother in small-town Seabrook, California. Finding a job at a coffee shop puts her in the path of her former boyfriend, since he turns out to be its owner. Can the two get past their mistakes? The novel uses the popular second-chance romance trope, but Pham fails to energize it through interesting characters. Blair’s grief over her great-aunt’s death and her plan to help her mother are overshadowed by internal monologues about her feelings, the way her friends aren’t paying attention to her, and the novel she plans to write. Declan’s distinguishing characteristic, besides being a former high school quarterback, is his skill at building birdhouses. Unsurprisingly, the couple doesn’t have much chemistry; when they embrace, their “bodies meld like…memory foam.” The wooden characters, unusual word choices (“conglomerate of pedestrians,” “litany of plants”), and odd turns of phrase (“tension melting from his eyebrows like butter melting in a warm pan”) are almost enough to obscure the lack of plot development. What passes for stakes is easily defused when Blair comes into an inheritance that saves her from working as a consultant at Ernst & Young in New York—so she can write a romance novel.
A romance that could have used significant rethinking.Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781668095188
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
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