A promising debut that provides an honest and raw examination of the destructive nature of unrealized dreams.
A young British woman struggling to conceive faces numerous disappointments in this emotional and surprisingly humorous debut.
Olivia and Felix have recently moved to the suburbs of London in anticipation of beginning a family. In their early 30s, they expect that conceiving a baby should be fairly straightforward. When many months pass without a positive pregnancy test, they both feel the strain of their unrealized dreams. As sex becomes more of a chore than an expression of devotion, the couple’s marriage suffers. Olivia dives more deeply into her position at the Swedish lifestyle company where she works despite the fact that she feels consistently underappreciated there. Meanwhile, it seems her every friend is popping out multiple babies with ease. As she and Felix suffer the barrage of Instagram baby brags and the indignity of fertility apps directing them to fornicate at a moment’s notice, they grow increasingly frustrated. Even so, both characters seem to get in the way of their own baby-making goals. Felix continues to disappear on long business trips, precluding the possibility of coupling on certain optimal days, and Olivia refuses to give up drinking or even visit a doctor to discuss fertility until deep into the novel. As baby-making, or the lack thereof, sends Olivia’s life on a downward spiral, she wonders whether procreating is worth such distress. Told from Olivia’s perspective, the story contains many slapstick moments that provide much-needed relief from the more difficult topic of infertility. Olivia struggles to fit in at the office as well as in her social circle, a group that is becoming increasingly baby-dominated. The author also pokes fun at the uber-trendy nature of the Scandinavian company where Olivia works, from the futuristic furniture to her frighteningly handsome supervisor. Told in an accessible and fast-paced prose full of British humor, the novel feels almost like a collection of blog posts about the difficulties of TTC. Despite the lighthearted nature of the language, there is a depth of emotion to the story that will leave readers deeply moved.
A promising debut that provides an honest and raw examination of the destructive nature of unrealized dreams.Pub Date: Dec. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4736-6380-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton/Trafalgar
Review Posted Online: Oct. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable...
An unlucky woman finally gets lucky in love on an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii.
From getting her hand stuck in a claw machine at age 6 to losing her job, Olive Torres has never felt that luck was on her side. But her fortune changes when she scores a free vacation after her identical twin sister and new brother-in-law get food poisoning at their wedding buffet and are too sick to go on their honeymoon. The only catch is that she’ll have to share the honeymoon suite with her least favorite person—Ethan Thomas, the brother of the groom. To make matters worse, Olive’s new boss and Ethan’s ex-girlfriend show up in Hawaii, forcing them both to pretend to be newlyweds so they don’t blow their cover, as their all-inclusive vacation package is nontransferable and in her sister’s name. Plus, Ethan really wants to save face in front of his ex. The story is told almost exclusively from Olive’s point of view, filtering all communication through her cynical lens until Ethan can win her over (and finally have his say in the epilogue). To get to the happily-ever-after, Ethan doesn’t have to prove to Olive that he can be a better man, only that he was never the jerk she thought he was—for instance, when she thought he was judging her for eating cheese curds, maybe he was actually thinking of asking her out. Blending witty banter with healthy adult communication, the fake newlyweds have real chemistry as they talk it out over snorkeling trips, couples massages, and a few too many tropical drinks to get to the truth—that they’re crazy about each other.
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable as well as free.Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2803-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
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