Will appeal to readers looking for complex family dramas and sumptuous descriptions of food and cooking.
A Toronto woman joins forces with her handsome neighbor to win a scholarship to culinary school.
Reena Manji’s strong circle of friends and her cooking and baking projects keep her happy despite her lackluster finance job. However, being 31 and having a dozen failed relationships behind her means that her loving but overbearing parents have stepped up their efforts to find her the perfect Muslim husband. Their newest prospect is Nadim Remtulla. He grew up in Dar es Salaam, attended boarding school in England, and now he’s in Toronto working on a real estate deal important to both of their families. Reena can afford her city apartment since her father owns the building, and he offered Nadim an apartment next to hers, hoping to throw them together. Reena has artfully dodged all of her family’s previous matchmaking attempts, but Nadim proves impossible to resist. He’s charming and attractive, but most importantly he agrees to be her partner in a local cooking contest. If Reena wins, she can attend culinary school and leave her boring finance job behind. Heron writes a compelling story of a woman trying to balance personal fulfillment against the intense pressures of familial duty and cultural expectations. Reena’s relationships with her father, mother, and sister are filled with past hurts and secrets, creating a realistically thorny and complex family dynamic. Although Reena makes progress in understanding her place in the family, the solutions are not pat and easy. Nadim is not a point-of-view character and not as well developed; Reena’s personal journey is the main focus of the novel.
Will appeal to readers looking for complex family dramas and sumptuous descriptions of food and cooking.Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5387-3498-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A unique and complex commentary about being perceived.
An author and a literary critic engage in a war of words in Robinson’s adult debut.
Parker Navarro loathes Selina Chan. His feelings might seem harsh, but Selina is just as tough—and her words are shared with millions of readers. Parker’s nemesis is a literary critic at City Magazine known for her severe yet honest reviews, which can make or break a book before publication. When she blasted Parker’s first novel four years ago, the “Selina Chan effect” caused an avalanche of bad press, souring his debut and costing his publisher millions. And now, on the appearance of his sophomore novel, High and Dry, Selina has done it again: another absolute pan. So when Parker spies Selina at an industry party, he eagerly takes the opportunity to address her ruthless criticism, leading to a heated confrontation. But when videos of their fight go viral, anti-Selina Chan forces rally around Parker—skyrocketing his new book into the public eye. The media can’t get enough of the Parker vs. Selina drama as the two spar on social media, live panels, even in published short stories. But unbeknownst to the public, Selina and Parker have begun a separate, more meaningful dialogue in private. As their feud slowly turns from furious to flirty, they realize that the most significant words they can say are reserved for each other. Robinson, who previously published YA novels under the name Riley Redgate, has written a smart, thought-provoking adult debut that’s perfect for bibliophiles. She toys with a slow-burn romance, but the love story ultimately takes a back seat to a conversation about craft, ambition, and what it means to truly love and stand by what you create. The story is centered around themes of honesty and vulnerability, and when the characters shed their defenses and finally become open to understanding each other, their union is all the more gratifying to witness.
A unique and complex commentary about being perceived.Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9781250431295
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
A romantic debut explores themes of change and memory.
A woman wakes up with amnesia and discovers she’s married to her high school nemesis.
Molly Graham wakes up one morning when she’s 27 and realizes she can’t remember anything—including why she’s in bed with her detested boarding school rival, Aster Bishop. A stay in the hospital determines that Molly suffered two small strokes following a mishap with some falling books. Molly feels like she’s 21, completely unable to remember the last six years of her life. Although Molly would like nothing better than to move out of her apartment and pretend her marriage to Aster doesn’t exist, her best friend challenges her to be brave and embrace the adult life she’s made for herself. She goes home to their apartment, but Aster is determined to follow the doctor’s strict instructions not to overwhelm her with too much information about her past. He’s redacted information from her phone and locked the spare bedroom, insisting that Molly should trust him to reveal more about their life together once she’s had time to recover some of her memories. From there, Molly begins the long and slow process of rebuilding her life: reconnecting with her father, catching up with her job as co-owner of an independent bookstore, and discovering how seamlessly her own and Aster’s disparate high school friend groups have merged. Slowly, Aster begins to reveal the joyful and painful memories of their relationship and the way it was formed. The poignant, emotional core of the novel is watching Molly give herself permission to fall back in love with Aster, even as doctors warn that her memory loss might be permanent. Gayle’s novel treats amnesia as more than just a trope; the book is a richly layered and rewarding exploration of how relationships are built on the shared bond of mutual memories.
A romantic debut explores themes of change and memory.Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9780063488359
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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