A romance that highlights the way love can help people grow and become their best selves.
A midwife and a widower fall in love in Victorian London.
Rebecca Adler is well regarded in London’s Jewish community as a midwife and healer: She provides birth control, mixes tonics and medicines, and assists in childbirth. Coming from an Ashkenazi family, though, and having a brusque manner, she’s never felt entirely accepted in the community, where the Sephardim have the most power and esteem—none more so than the wealthy Berab family. Rebecca had a brief sexual encounter with the widowed Roger Berab the previous spring, and when Roger made it clear that it had been a mistake, Rebecca had no choice but to agree. Now, eight months later, Roger’s spoiled daughter accidentally burns down Rebecca’s house, and under Jewish law, he is expected to make the Adler family whole. Roger agrees to pay for the repairs and host Rebecca in his home until everything is fixed. When his wife was alive, Roger’s house was peaceful and calm, but things have devolved since then. His two children bicker and the governesses can’t control them—but Roger thinks his luck is about to change: In exchange for marrying the 19-year-old daughter of another powerful family, he will finally be able to secure a seat on the Commission of Delegates, which represents the entire Jewish community—a longtime goal. Grossman excels at building stories with both heart and chemistry. Once Rebecca moves into Roger’s house, their attraction is undeniable, so they agree to continue their affair until his betrothal contract is signed. Rebecca is a strong, self-assured character, but it’s Roger’s journey that is most poignant. Falling in love with Rebecca helps him reevaluate everything: his goals for the future, his relationships with his children, his ability to choose personal happiness over duty to the community. It’s a powerful exploration of the way people may have to let go of entrenched beliefs about themselves to find love.
A romance that highlights the way love can help people grow and become their best selves.Pub Date: June 30, 2026
ISBN: 9781538769867
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 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
A deep and moving portrayal of first love.
Two college students rekindle their relationship as they unravel the truth behind their breakup.
On the outside, college senior Bennett Reiner has it all. A goalie for Waterfell University’s hockey team, he lives with a group of friends in a luxurious off-campus house. He and his best friend, Rhys Koteskiy, have fathers who are retired hockey legends. But on the inside, he’s falling apart. Struggling with OCD, a shaky friendship with Rhys, and second thoughts about pursuing a future in hockey, the only thing keeping Bennett afloat is also the one thing breaking his heart: Paloma Blake. All dyed-hair and attitude, Paloma has built a bad reputation on the hockey scene since their relationship ended freshman year—but Bennett knows the real P. Underneath her promiscuous facade lies a scared and lonely girl running from a childhood of abuse. When they were together, it seemed like their romance was perfect, until Paloma broke it off without warning. Since then, Bennett has run to Paloma’s side whenever she needed him, whether she was drunk, lonely, or hurting, and now he’s determined to win her back. For Bennett, Paloma is his antidote, the cure for his compulsions; for Paloma, Bennett is her protector, her safe space. And though Paloma yearns to be with Bennett again, she’s not sure she’s willing to open old wounds and reveal the truth about her painful past. In the third installment of the Undone series, Corinne spotlights familiar characters as they navigate trauma, heartbreak, and first love. Bennett and Paloma’s relationship is raw and vulnerable, and their journey of relinquishing control is both necessary and inevitable. Their romance evolves as they open up to one another, and in return, the reader is rewarded with a love story that’s as lyrical, evocative, and emotional as poetry.
A deep and moving portrayal of first love.Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9781668219423
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
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