An engaging story with winning characters and an absorbing backdrop.
A young musician learns a secret that throws his life into disarray in Kozak’s novel.
Niels Larsen, a cellist, has always has wondered who his biological father was. He is stunned to learn from his newly discovered aunt that the most likely candidate, along with two others, drugged his then-teenaged mother and raped her. Learning he’s a product of sexual assault throws Niels for a loop, and he ends up dropping out of school during his final semester. He runs away from his family and friends in British Columbia, first cooking at a dive in Halifax, then on container ships. He travels to Seville, Spain—the hometown of his new work buddy, Daniel—and meets a man who changes his destiny. Tiago, an elderly busker, becomes his friend and mentor and introduces him to the world of flamenco (“The neck was warm and smooth in my hand. Despite needing tuning, the guitar’s tone was rich and darker than that of the others I had tried, as though it were coming from deep inside the instrument’s throat”). Suffering from cancer, Tiago leaves Niels in charge of his legacy, willing him some cassette tapes that turn out to be the only recordings of his original music. The author wisely builds her novel around the quirky Niels; he isn’t particularly relatable, but he is understandable. Niels had an odd upbringing, raised by his grandparents, both of whom are academics. A music nerd, he’s not the most socially adept individual—still, Niels is flexible and bold enough to handle whatever circumstances come his way, from fatherhood to creating a touring production. Kozak gives him the supporting cast he needs, including Tiago; his lesbian friend, Jax; and his ex-girlfriend, Aude. The book is well-researched and feels authentic. The satisfying story begins with Niels running away from a shock and eventually finds him running toward a brighter future.
An engaging story with winning characters and an absorbing backdrop.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 9780228891017
Page Count: 359
Publisher: Tellwell Talent
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop.
Three women deal very differently with vampirism in Schwab’s era-spanning follow-up to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020).
In 16th-century Spain, Maria seduces a wealthy viscount in an attempt to seize whatever control she can over her own life. It turns out that being a wife—even a wealthy one—is just another cage, but then a mysterious widow offers Maria a surprising escape route. In the 19th century, Charlotte is sent from her home in the English countryside to live with an aunt in London when she’s found trying to kiss her best friend. She’s despondent at the idea of marrying a man, but another mysterious widow—who has a secret connection to Maria’s widow from centuries earlier—appears and teaches Charlotte that she can be free to love whomever she chooses, if she’s brave enough. In 2019, Alice’s memories of growing up in Scotland with her mercurial older sister, Catty, pull her mind away from her first days at Harvard University. And though she doesn’t meet any mysterious widows, Alice wakes up alone after a one-night stand unable to tolerate sunlight, sporting two new fangs, and desperate to drink blood. Horrified at her transformation, she searches Boston for her hookup, who was the last person she remembers seeing before she woke up as a vampire. Schwab delicately intertwines the three storylines, which are compelling individually even before the reader knows how they will connect. Maria, Charlotte, and Alice are queer women searching for love, recognition, and wholeness, growing fangs and defying mortality in a world that would deny them their very existence. Alice’s flashbacks to Catty are particularly moving, and subtly play off themes of grief and loneliness laid out in the historical timelines.
A beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop.Pub Date: June 10, 2025
ISBN: 9781250320520
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
Uneven but fitfully amusing.
Betrayed by her husband, a severely depressed young woman gets drawn into the over-the-top festivities at a lavish wedding.
Phoebe Stone, who teaches English literature at a St. Louis college, is plotting her own demise. Her husband, Matt, has left her for another woman, and Phoebe is taking it hard. Indeed, she's determined just where and how she will end it all: at an oceanfront hotel in Newport, where she will lie on a king-sized canopy bed and take a bottle of her cat’s painkillers. At the hotel, Phoebe meets bride-to-be Lila, a headstrong rich girl presiding over her own extravagant six-day wedding celebration. Lila thought she had booked every room in the hotel, and learning of Phoebe's suicidal intentions, she forbids this stray guest from disrupting the nuptials: “No. You definitely can’t kill yourself. This is my wedding week.” After the punchy opening, a grim flashback to the meltdown of Phoebe's marriage temporarily darkens the mood, but things pick up when spoiled Lila interrupts Phoebe's preparations and sweeps her up in the wedding juggernaut. The slide from earnest drama to broad farce is somewhat jarring, but from this point on, Espach crafts an enjoyable—if overstuffed—comedy of manners. When the original maid of honor drops out, Phoebe is persuaded, against her better judgment, to take her place. There’s some fun to be had here: The wedding party—including groom-to-be Gary, a widower, and his 11-year-old daughter—takes surfing lessons; the women in the group have a session with a Sex Woman. But it all goes on too long, and the humor can seem forced, reaching a low point when someone has sex with the vintage wedding car (you don’t want to know the details). Later, when two characters have a meet-cute in a hot tub, readers will guess exactly how the marriage plot resolves.
Uneven but fitfully amusing.Pub Date: July 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781250899576
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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