While the romance takes a back seat, Schmit’s handling of mental health advocacy and trauma is nuanced and admirable.
Twenty-year-old Austin Hardy is the first openly gay man to play in one of tennis’ Grand Slam tournaments. But he’s competing against much more than his opponents.
After Austin takes a very public fall at practice caused by an anxiety attack 10 days before the U.S. Open, some big changes happen. His coach insists he see a therapist, who suggests that reading the comments on articles and videos about his sexuality isn’t helping his mental health, so he takes a break from social media. He also becomes fast friends with Diego Cruz, a very hot rival—ranked No. 2 in the world—who leaped the net to check on him after the fall. As they grow closer, the tension and mixed signals between them grow until Diego confirms that he’s romantically interested in Austin as well. Unfortunately, Diego’s not ready to come out and decides he can’t afford to be distracted from his pursuit of winning. After an important victory, Austin’s ranking changes and he lands in the top 100. Now he must also juggle media appearances, potential sponsors, the responsibility of being an out and proud gay celebrity, as well as a complicated relationship with his coach, all of which exacerbates his anxiety. This novel takes place over 10 days, which is a whirlwind romance under any circumstances, but following Austin’s highs and lows is like watching an especially fast tennis match. There’s a lot to like here—excellent familial relationships and character development, compelling tennis action, and sensitive mental illness representation—but the love story fails to deliver on any sort of happily-ever-after or happy-for-now ending.
While the romance takes a back seat, Schmit’s handling of mental health advocacy and trauma is nuanced and admirable.Pub Date: June 2, 2026
ISBN: 9780593956779
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
A powerfully strong romance for readers who like their love stories full of torment and passion.
Best friends confront feelings for each other when they take a honeymoon trip together.
Francesca Gardiner and George Saint James have always been best friends—just like Jo and Laurie from Little Women, which they both love. Frankie has a big, complicated family and George was the boy next door who’d moved in with his eccentric grandmother. Their friendship survived childhood, awkward teenage years, and living together as young adults without ever venturing into the romantic—well, except for one kiss, but they don’t talk about that. When Frankie gets engaged to an older professor named Nate, George isn’t happy and a huge fight ensues. Despite his misgivings, George shows up to be her best man, but Nate leaves Frankie right before the wedding with only a cryptic letter. Devastated, Frankie goes to a friend’s house to recuperate, but her honeymoon is already planned and paid for—so she decides to travel to Tofino, a picturesque town on the coast of Vancouver Island, with George taking Nate’s place. Frankie wants to fix her friendship with George, but now that they’re in a romantic suite in a beautiful location, things are more complicated than ever. She’d always thought a relationship would be a bad idea, but she’s slowly beginning to realize they’ll never be able to go back to being kids. Maybe the only way forward involves forging a new kind of relationship. Fortune, the author of romances like This Summer Will Be Different (2024), returns with another love story full of longing and intense angst. The many allusions to Little Women are charming, and Frankie is a delightfully headstrong, feisty character. She and George have explosive chemistry, and Fortune manages to make the “will-they-or-won’t-they” nature of their relationship feel like life-or-death stakes.
A powerfully strong romance for readers who like their love stories full of torment and passion.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9780593953242
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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