Another well-written, complex story about Regency London’s most accomplished (and unusual) fictional family.
A fiery playwright and a quiet poet work together to find a missing cousin.
Unlike the rest of London, Vivian Henry isn’t impressed by the Wynchester family, though her younger cousin Quentin is obsessed with them. Viv’s more focused on making ends meet with her daily advice column, keeping the house in working order, and sending her plays to every theater in London, to no avail. But when Quentin disappears, she realizes that the only people who can help are those irritating Wynchesters. Jacob Wynchester is generally more interested in poetry and animals than other people, but he’s instantly captivated by Viv, despite her prickliness, and takes the lead on the search. After some miscommunication and mishaps, the Wynchesters finally make progress on the case, thanks in part to help from the extremely observant Viv, who finds that she fits in much better with the family than she ever would have guessed. And though the search for Quentin is becoming increasingly desperate, everyone but Viv and Jacob can tell that an attraction is building between them. Ridley’s Wynchesters are now a beloved family of historical romance, and they more than live up to their madcap reputation throughout this chaotic ride of a book. Jacob’s quiet warmth provides a much-needed counterpoint to the intensity of the story; in addition to Quentin’s kidnapping, the book centers Viv’s history of having been enslaved on a plantation in Demerara (now known as Guyana) and her escape to England, both key to understanding her character. Thanks to Ridley’s skillful writing, the story deftly balances the serious parts of the plot against the classically zany Wynchester antics and, eventually, steamy intimate scenes. Jacob seems likely to be the last of the six Wynchesters to find his happily-ever-after, and though new readers might be a little overwhelmed, fans will be glad that the series ends on a high note.
Another well-written, complex story about Regency London’s most accomplished (and unusual) fictional family.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9781538726136
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
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
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