A compulsively readable second-chance romance that’s full of pining and laughs.
A dating columnist vows to stay single…and then her high school boyfriend shows up.
Lana Parker is a serial monogamist. After her devastating breakup with her high school boyfriend, Seth Carson, she made sure she always had a long-term boyfriend. Lana is good at being a girlfriend—but perhaps less good at being herself. Her experience with relationships might make her the perfect person to write a relationships and dating column for the website she works for, but she’d much rather write about pop culture. When her latest relationship implodes, Lana’s boss, Natasha, decides that Lana should write about staying single. It’s a terrifying prospect for Lana, but she’s determined to do everything she can to stay away from relationships. However, there’s one problem: Seth Carson himself, also a writer, just showed up at her job. Natasha, desperate for traffic, decides to pit the two of them against each other in a not-so-friendly competition: Lana has to learn how to live life on her own, while Seth has to focus on settling down with the right person. They both have to write about their journey, and the writer who is most popular with the site’s readers wins their own column. This could finally be Lana’s chance to break out of the dating department and write about what she wants—and destroy the man who broke her heart so many years ago. But Seth doesn’t make things easy, mostly because he’s infuriatingly charming. As they spend more time together, Lana finds herself wondering what she really wants. Lana is a likable character whose background (she was mostly ignored as a child by her philanthropist mother) makes it easy to see why she jumps into relationships. Seth and Lana have instant chemistry on the page, and it’s a joy to read their snarky banter that transforms into something more heartfelt. Their longing for each other and the obstacles in their way feel realistic. Ballard also creates a warm and witty friend group for Lana that adds plenty of comic relief.
A compulsively readable second-chance romance that’s full of pining and laughs.Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-41993-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
Delivers on the titular premise of “like,” but may not satisfy romance readers hoping for love.
A makeup artist and beauty influencer is the target of a catfishing scheme.
Jia Ahmed is a well-known internet sensation for her makeup tutorials and beauty tips, but she senses her star is waning and is tired of the pressure to create new content. She’s also determined to finally meet Dev Dixit, the man she’s been texting for a few months. His family is Bollywood royalty, but he’s a star in his own right, having spent a decade as the lead in one of India’s most famous serialized dramas. Dev moved to California for a part in an American show, but mostly he’s trying to escape the emotional turmoil caused by his brother’s unexpected death and the responsibility of becoming his niece’s guardian. When Jia approaches Dev at a party and he doesn’t recognize her, she is horrified and embarrassed to realize she was catfished. Appalled that his identity was stolen and used to hurt an innocent woman, Dev approaches her and they develop a cautious friendship. When the media gets hold of the story, the two pretend to be engaged to smooth things over with their respective families. Although Jia and Dev are completely likable, the book reads like mainstream fiction, not romance. The focus is on the thorny dilemmas the two face in trying to achieve professional goals and their individual navigation of complex and interesting family dynamics. Although they go on a few dates, most of their thin, hastily constructed love story is jammed into the last few chapters. Romance fans may wonder what happened to Rai’s trademark ability to craft deeply felt emotional connections between her main characters.
Delivers on the titular premise of “like,” but may not satisfy romance readers hoping for love.Pub Date: Feb. 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-287815-1
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
A heartfelt debut.
A floundering 30-something searches for purpose at a writers residency in the French Riviera.
When 23-year-old Poppy Banks met her elusive Aunt Margot for the first time, she wasn't sure what to expect. But Margot, who had been estranged from Poppy’s mother for decades, turned out to be the exact opposite of her sister, who had always fat-shamed Poppy and belittled her dreams of becoming a novelist. Full of infectious joie de vivre and endless encouragement, Margot became a beloved figure in Poppy’s life through secret annual lunch dates over the next nine years. Now, at 32, Poppy is no closer to being a published writer outside her soul-sucking job at content mill Thought Buzz. When Poppy tells Margot she’s ready to give up on writing, Margot cryptically makes her promise to say yes to anything good that comes her way. Six months later, Margot is dead and Poppy learns the truth: Margot ran a writers colony at her villa on the French Riviera, and she left it to Poppy to keep or sell, with two stipulations: Poppy must remain in France for at least six months, and she must draft a book while she’s there. When Poppy arrives, she’s met with gorgeous vistas, a handsome man who works for The Colony, and a life-changing $700,000 offer to sell the estate. Is this Poppy’s big chance to become a writer or to get out for good? Poppy’s struggles with her body image often feel shoehorned into the plot, and her relationship with her mother—far more interesting than the book’s romance—isn’t explored deeply enough. But the author deftly captures how it feels to be of a certain age without possessing the life one had hoped for, and descriptions of the sun-soaked French Riviera are rich and vivid.
A heartfelt debut.Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9780778334200
Page Count: 300
Publisher: Park Row Books
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
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