A passionate romance about a couple who find the missing pieces of themselves in one another.
Two childhood sweethearts navigate the pressures of adolescence and difficult family dynamics.
Emery Wallace and Xander Ford formed an instant connection when they first met in Rhode Island on the Fourth of July at the age of 10. Xander, who was in town from Maryland for his family’s annual trip to see his dad’s relatives, was obviously poor, while Emery was clearly a rich girl. They decide to become pen pals, but neither one receives an answer to their letters, and even though Emery looks for him at their meeting point each Independence Day, Xander doesn’t appear. Seven years later, Xander is back in town with his ailing dad. The pair is reunited when Emery—answering an ad and not realizing who posted it—hires Xander to be her calculus tutor. After some initial friction over the dropped communication, the sparks fly. But as their emotionally charged, physically intense relationship grows, they face challenges—Emery struggles with her controlling father’s demands for perfection, and Xander’s father has early onset dementia. In flowery language, Scott’s vivid, highly emotional story explores love, loss, and grief. The chapters alternate between the leads’ first-person perspectives, building tension and showing how they find themselves through their mutual love. Scott thoughtfully explores difficult topics young adults might experience, such as emotional abuse, parental conflict, and socioeconomic differences. Main characters present white.
A passionate romance about a couple who find the missing pieces of themselves in one another. (Romance. 16-18)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781464243417
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Bloom Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
A thrilling romance that could use more even pacing.
For the second time in her life, Leo must choose between her family and true love.
Nineteen-year-old Princess Leonie Kolburg’s royal family is bankrupt. In order to salvage the fortune they accrued before humans fled the frozen Earth 170 years ago, Leonie’s father is forcing her to participate in the Valg Season, an elaborate set of matchmaking events held to facilitate the marriages of rich and royal teens. Leo grudgingly joins in even though she has other ideas: She’s invented a water filtration system that, if patented, could provide a steady income—that is if Leo’s calculating Aunt Freja, the Captain of the ship hosting the festivities, stops blocking her at every turn. Just as Leo is about to give up hope, her long-lost love, Elliot, suddenly appears onboard three years after Leo’s family forced her to break off their engagement. Donne (Brightly Burning, 2018) returns to space, this time examining the fascinatingly twisted world of the rich and famous. Leo and her peers are nuanced, deeply felt, and diverse in terms of sexuality but not race, which may be a function of the realities of wealth and power. The plot is fast paced although somewhat uneven: Most of the action resolves in the last quarter of the book, which makes the resolutions to drawn-out conflicts feel rushed.
A thrilling romance that could use more even pacing. (Science fiction. 16-adult)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-328-94894-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
Unexamined toxic masculinity makes this romance anything but.
A girl’s strained relationships with two brothers causes strife in this trilogy opener by Argentinian author Ron that’s translated from Spanish.
In the small American town of Carsville, Kamila Hamilton was friends with her neighbors the Di Bianco brothers. Taylor was Kami’s constant, kind companion; older brother Thiago grew increasingly antagonistic. When she was 10 and a half and he was 12, Thiago coerced Kami into her first kiss. Following the revelation of a family secret, the Di Biancos moved away, but a restraining order against Thiago led them to return to their old home after eight years without contact. But 20-year-old Thiago’s new job as assistant basketball coach at the high school where Taylor is on the team and 17-year-old Kami is a cheerleader brings the white-presenting trio into close contact, leading to tense confrontations over past events. Thiago and Kami’s interactions are marked by antagonism and lust (Thiago: “Accumulated rage, bitterness, hatred, and arousal….I could have taken her then and there, not even thinking of the consequences”; Kami: “I felt like a small, defenseless animal being hunted by a beast”). The softer and more empathetic Taylor tries to smooth things over. Thiago’s abuse of power—he uses his role as coach to confront and bully Kami—is uncomfortable and feels like a misguided attempt by the pair to process their traumatic history, which Ron purposefully reveals, making this overall read more cringeworthy than romantic.
Unexamined toxic masculinity makes this romance anything but. (Romance. 16-18)Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781464234279
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Bloom Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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