A beautiful homage to family that urges readers to rethink what “home” can really mean.
In Van Rheenen’s novel, a woman travels to Costa Rica to track down her absentee father after the loss of her mother.
It is April of 2010, and Lucy, a single, 30-something teacher with a scientific passion for insects, is reeling after the death of her mother. Lucy’s estranged sister, Faith, immediately claims the family’s California home for her family. Angry and grief-stricken, Lucy makes the impulsive decision to spend her eight-day spring break in Costa Rica to track down her biological father, Gabriel Mora Soto, who left behind a stack of letters addressed to her mother and, as far as Lucy knows, may not even be alive. Arriving in the small village of Palmita, where Lucy and her family used to spend their summers, she meets friends both old and new, including her childhood friend, Inés (who now goes by Calaca), and Calaca’s son, Beto; Hilda, her kindly hostess for the week; and Gabriel’s discombobulatingly handsome bar-owner friend, Rafa. Each section of the narrative spans one day of the week, from Saturday to Saturday, as Lucy explores Palmita, discovers surprising personal connections to those around her, and tries to uncover the truth about her parents’ past. Van Rheenen crafts a delicate and thoughtful story of one woman’s attempt to find and make meaning in both her past and present, with the idea of nature as a healing force nudging Lucy along her path of self-discovery. While the pace occasionally lags, the smooth, sometimes poetic prose deftly leads Lucy through the twists and turns of her familial journey: “She felt all of Palmita tremble underfoot as old alliances and assumptions collapsed, and new ones sprang up. Where would she land in this seismic rearrangement?” Van Rheenen’s deep exploration of Lucy’s sense of self yields a fascinating and layered examination of how pain, rage, and grief can ultimately give way to hope and resilience.
A beautiful homage to family that urges readers to rethink what “home” can really mean.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781960573476
Page Count: 262
Publisher: Sibylline Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.
A love story about a life of second chances.
In Nassau, in the Bahamas, casino detective Vincent LaPorta grills Alfie Logan, who’d come up a winner three times in a row at the roulette table and walked away with $2 million. “How did you do it?” asks the detective. Alfie calmly denies cheating. You wired all the money to a Gianna Rule, LaPorta says. Why? To explain, Alfie produces a composition book with the words “For the Boss, to Be Read Upon My Death” written on the cover. Read this for answers, Alfie suggests, calling it a love story. His mother had passed along to him a strange trait: He can say “Twice!” and go back to a specific time and place to have a do-over. But it only works once for any particular moment, and then he must live with the new consequences. He can only do this for himself and can’t prevent anyone from dying. Alfie regularly uses his power—failing to impress a girl the first time, he finds out more about her, goes back in time, and presto! She likes him. The premise is of course not credible—LaPorta doesn’t buy it either—but it’s intriguing. Most people would probably love to go back and unsay something. The story’s focus is on Alfie’s love for Gianna and whether it’s requited, unrequited, or both. In any case, he’s obsessed with her. He’s a good man, though, an intelligent person with ordinary human failings and a solid moral compass. Albom writes in a warm, easy style that transports the reader to a world of second chances and what-ifs, where spirituality lies close to the surface but never intrudes on the story. Though a cynic will call it sappy, anyone who is sick to their core from the daily news will enjoy this escape from reality.
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780062406682
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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