An entertaining erotic novel with punchy prose that gets at the emotion underneath the raunch.
Members of Alabama’s Black upper crust pursue sexual intrigues in this frisky romance.
Johnson’s story charts love lives amongst Birmingham’s financially successful Black bourgeoisie. The players include Dana, a call-center manager and poet who gives readings at fashionable nightspot Lucky’s Lounge; she’s having an affair with the venue’s owner, Token, a wealthy architect. Though she is raptly attentive to Token’s sexual demands—his nickname for her is M.B., which stands for “My Bitch”—Dana’s anger at him for refusing to divorce his wife Tiara is not appeased by gifts of jewelry or even an Audi R8 with a giant red bow on top. Then there’s Giselle, also known as DJ Jazzy G at radio station V99.4, who’s getting over a heartrending breakup when her pal Amber sends her a luscious nude photo of attractive car salesman Monty Jones; her flirty direct-message exchanges with Monty quickly escalate to phone sex. Giselle is momentarily put off when she learns that Monty is also a “sexual development companion” who had been hired by Amber to help her get her groove back, but she shrugs it off and signs up for Monty’s hands-on development services. Amber treats herself when she goes on a cruise with her boring bank-owner husband Gene and meets handsome private eye Leo on the Lido deck. After drugging Gene with a sedative, Amber repairs to Leo’s cabin for an assignation in which the illicit couple is joined by Leo’s cousin Ethan. The only one not seeing any action is poor Tiara, whose 20-year marriage to Token has frayed since she was waylaid by major depression and gained 60 pounds—her 8,000 square foot mansion feels like a “prison.” When Tiara and Dana both show up at Lucky’s 10th anniversary bash, the stage is set for tense confrontations that culminate in passion and fire.
Johnson’s yarn is cheerfully lubricious, with much parading of lingerie and lots of explicit sex. The characters are energetic and sharply drawn, if a bit two-dimensional—the two dimensions being lust and greed. (Contemplating marriage to Token, Dana “imagined getting her own black card and shopping limitlessly….getting to leave the workforce to be a stay-at-home housewife….it made her climax harder than she ever had before.”) There’s plenty of tawdry atmosphere, conveyed in evocative prose that sneaks some intelligent reflection beneath the characters’ impulsiveness. (“It took all I had not to burst out of there and beat her ass. But what would that do, huh? Get me banned from the club and lose out on my dream, that’s what.”) While the story is awash in sex, Johnson can also deftly evoke the plangent feelings that accompany a dying relationship: “When Token does make it home for dinner,” Tiara muses, “the conversation is scarce. We sit on opposite ends of our long, rectangular table, barely making eye contact.” The result is a fun, erotic romp that has a heart as well as a healthy libido.
An entertaining erotic novel with punchy prose that gets at the emotion underneath the raunch.Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2021
ISBN: 9798752074394
Page Count: 147
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A charming love story that absolutely radiates warmth.
A single mom winds up fake dating an incredibly wealthy man in her hometown.
Dolly Brick is back in her hometown of Whitfield, Rhode Island, for the summer to help her dad and disabled brother manage their house and family business. As a 39-year-old single mother with multiple jobs—which now include working at the Brick Fish House—Dolly is always busy. When her mom left their family years ago, Dolly took over caring for her siblings and father and never really stopped. When she runs into Stewart Whitfield after making a shrimp delivery to his family’s mansion, she doesn’t think they could be more different. She’s had to figure out how to do everything by herself, and he can’t even change a tire. That’s why Stewart’s proposal that she pretend to be his girlfriend feels so unbelievable—but it comes with a hefty check that she desperately needs for home repairs. So she becomes the fake girlfriend of Stewart Whitfield (as in, the Whitfields her town is named after; his real fiancée just dumped him and it’s a bad time for him to be single) and experiences what it’s like to walk into fancy buildings through the front door instead of the service entrance. More than the boats and helicopter and expensive dinners, though, Dolly is impressed by what a kind man Stewart is—and how it feels to let someone else take care of her for a change. Soon, their relationship starts to feel more real than fake. Monaghan creates an impossibly winning story with a charming, lovable heroine. Dolly is capable, hardworking, and will do anything for the people she loves. She and Stewart both possess real flaws, and while their relationship begins with one of the most beloved rom-com tropes, their challenges feel like realistic adult obstacles rather than easily solved miscommunications. It’s also refreshing that, even though Dolly must learn to allow other people to help her, she never views her caretaking responsibilities as burdens. She deeply loves her family, and that love carries through the entire story.
A charming love story that absolutely radiates warmth.Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9780593853979
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.
A promise to his best friend leads an Army serviceman to a family in need and a chance at true love in this novel.
Beckett Gentry is surprised when his Army buddy Ryan MacKenzie gives him a letter from Ryan’s sister, Ella. Abandoned by his mother, Beckett grew up in a series of foster homes. He is wary of attachments until he reads Ella’s letter. A single mother, Ella lives with her twins, Maisie and Colt, at Solitude, the resort she operates in Telluride, Colorado. They begin a correspondence, although Beckett can only identify himself by his call sign, Chaos. After Ryan’s death during a mission, Beckett travels to Telluride as his friend had requested. He bonds with the twins while falling deeply in love with Ella. Reluctant to reveal details of Ryan’s death and risk causing her pain, Beckett declines to disclose to Ella that he is Chaos. Maisie needs treatment for neuroblastoma, and Beckett formally adopts the twins as a sign of his commitment to support Ella and her children. He and Ella pursue a romance, but when an insurance investigator questions the adoption, Beckett is faced with revealing the truth about the letters and Ryan’s death, risking losing the family he loves. Yarros’ (Wilder, 2016, etc.) novel is a deeply felt and emotionally nuanced contemporary romance bolstered by well-drawn characters and strong, confident storytelling. Beckett and Ella are sympathetic protagonists whose past experiences leave them cautious when it comes to love. Beckett never knew the security of a stable home life. Ella impulsively married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended when he discovered she was pregnant. The author is especially adept at developing the characters through subtle but significant details, like Beckett’s aversion to swearing. Beckett and Ella’s romance unfolds slowly in chapters that alternate between their first-person viewpoints. The letters they exchanged are pivotal to their connection, and almost every chapter opens with one. Yarros’ writing is crisp and sharp, with passages that are poetic without being florid. For example, in a letter to Beckett, Ella writes of motherhood: “But I’m not the center of their universe. I’m more like their gravity.” While the love story is the book’s focus, the subplot involving Maisie’s illness is equally well-developed, and the link between Beckett and the twins is heartfelt and sincere.
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-533-3
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Jan. 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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