A warm and familiar romance that dwells engagingly on the significance of emotional fortitude.
A wildly popular actress must face unfair consequences when she gives in to a long-standing attraction to her talent agent.
Superstar Paige Mills is popularly regarded as “Black America’s Sweetheart," but her carefully crafted public persona is threatened when her powerful and vindictive director husband drags out their divorce negotiations. Paige is supported unquestioningly by her whole team with one notable exception—her trusted agent and close friend, Andrew Weathers. Reeling in the aftermath of the negotiations and hurt by Andrew’s abandonment, Paige drops off the grid once the divorce is finalized. Andrew has complicated feelings for his client and has been keeping his distance from Paige because he can't bear to see her being emotionally abused by her husband. When he hears that Paige has chosen to seclude herself, however, Andrew tracks her down to her uncle’s remote home in Michigan. As they spend several days together, shielded from public scrutiny, Andrew and Paige face their feelings for each other. But the romantic idyll—and their careers—is threatened when the media learns of their whereabouts. As Paige faces a publicity nightmare, she must make difficult decisions to find happiness and peace in her personal and professional lives. The third book in Wright’s Pure Talent series underlines the strength of family ties and the precariousness of female stardom. The chemistry between Andrew and Paige is palpable and sweet, and their personalities complement each other. Andrew’s affection for a talented and bright client blossoms credibly into love for a strong woman wearing her emotions on her sleeve. But the trajectory of Paige’s escalating feelings for Andrew is not mapped with enough attention to emotional detail, with the result that several of her decisions seem unduly hasty.
A warm and familiar romance that dwells engagingly on the significance of emotional fortitude.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4967-2581-3
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Dafina/Kensington
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Light on plot and heavy on bolstering traditional gender norms as the ultimate goal for both men and women.
A Seattle woman meets a Chicago businessman as she flies home from a visit to a friend, and her small act of kindness blossoms into more.
Maisy Gallagher is barely making ends meet. With her father’s unexpected death a few years earlier, she dropped out of nursing school to help out in the family’s jewelry store, working with her uncle. Her older brother, Sean, also moved back home so he and Maisy could help their mother and their 10-year-old brother, Patrick. When Maisy offers a ride to a rude businessman who sat next to her on the plane, she’s just operating on the kindness her grandmother instilled in her. That businessman, Chase Furst, turns out to be an incredibly wealthy banker; he’s flown into Seattle to make funeral arrangements for his mother, to whom he hasn’t spoken in years. Sparks fly in this gentle and predictable romance that leans heavily on long-distance and class-divide tropes. As with many of the author’s books, Christianity and the characters’ reliance on God’s will—as they wait and see what happens next—play a large part, as do traditional gender roles where women cook, clean, and only work in paying jobs until they have children at home to take care of. The author does offer a lighter touch when it comes to the painful ways alcoholism can destroy family relationships, with an understanding of the regret that can weigh on every family member.
Light on plot and heavy on bolstering traditional gender norms as the ultimate goal for both men and women.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9798217091676
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
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
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