Not as compelling as earlier installments but still an enjoyable read featuring a distinct family.
Two artists find love as they become embroiled in a dangerous counterfeiting scheme in Regency London.
The Wynchesters—an eccentric crew of six adopted siblings—are known for using their unique talents to help people in need, taking on even seemingly impossible cases. Marjorie’s artistic prowess means her contributions typically occur from the safety of the Planning Parlor within the Wynchester residence, but when the family is alerted that a notorious moneylender called Snowley is pawning off forged coins on the destitute in exchange for their few valuables, Marjorie wants to prove herself by taking the lead and going out in the field to take him and the operation down. Meanwhile, Lord Adrian Webb has returned to London from Rome, where his family had banished him seven years earlier, hoping to repair his relationship with his younger sister. When he visits Snowley, to whom he had been furnishing antiquities to sell, with the intention of ending their arrangement, he learns that Snowley knew the artworks were actually forgeries Adrian had created himself. Now Snowley is blackmailing Adrian into counterfeiting money. When Marjorie shows up under the guise of wanting to work for Snowley, she and Adrian initially antagonize each other, despite their mutual attraction, but they connect as truths are revealed. This is the fourth installment in the Wild Wynchesters series and will most appeal to those already in love with this eccentric bunch. It’s exciting to watch Marjorie, who has partial deafness and is cued as a synesthete with eidetic memory, grow in confidence. Adrian’s character arc is less authentic since, despite being referred to as a rake and a scoundrel, his actions are always based on honorable ideals. There’s kissing and pining throughout, but mostly the intimacy takes a back seat to the entertaining hijinks.
Not as compelling as earlier installments but still an enjoyable read featuring a distinct family.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9781538726112
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
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
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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