A fizzily entertaining, emotionally sensitive take on the tug of war between success and fulfillment.
A young man must choose between love, authenticity, and manufacturing pantyhose in Abbott’s comic romance novel.
Alex Halaby, a 30-year-old Princeton grad who labors at his father’s pantyhose company (and who feels like his life has been preprogrammed by his domineering parents), quits and roars into the Manhattan night on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle, his sole signifier of independent manhood. There he meets Emily, the equally dissatisfied young wife of billionaire layabout Charles Lukes, who is dismissive of her ambition to be a painter and unforgivably bad at sex. Alex is great at sex, intimate conversations about their yearning souls, and singing satirical Tom Lehrer songs while accompanying himself on the piano; Emily can’t resist, and in short order she is pregnant with his baby. Guilt-stricken over the infidelity, Emily cold-shoulders Alex, who has his hands full when his father, Harry, suffers a heart attack, requiring Alex to step in to save the family company from bankruptcy. The author’s soap opera is a glittering sendup of Manhattan high society in the early 2000s, an upper-crust in which the men are fatuous stuffed shirts and the women frivolous fashionistas (“ ‘the banning of lapdogs from New York City restaurants is utterly deplorable, inhumane, and anal,’ ” declaims Charles’ sublimely shallow ex-wife, Claire). But the novel takes its protagonists’ longings seriously, and as Alex matures, he begins to appreciate Harry’s business as a meaningful outlet for his talents. Abbott probes his characters in vigorous prose that’s two-fisted (“You’re nothing but a cocky little punk who’s been playing in Daddy’s sandbox for, what, a month?”) and psychologically resonant (“The expertly rendered expressions were fractured, chaotic, and intense but oddly enigmatic: a savage glare full of amusement, a smile about to dissolve into weeping,” Alex observes of Emily’s clown paintings). Readers will root for Alex and Emily to figure themselves out amid the circus of preening wealth that surrounds them.
A fizzily entertaining, emotionally sensitive take on the tug of war between success and fulfillment.Pub Date: Dec. 14, 2022
ISBN: 9781663246974
Page Count: 284
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A powerfully strong romance for readers who like their love stories full of torment and passion.
Best friends confront feelings for each other when they take a honeymoon trip together.
Francesca Gardiner and George Saint James have always been best friends—just like Jo and Laurie from Little Women, which they both love. Frankie has a big, complicated family and George was the boy next door who’d moved in with his eccentric grandmother. Their friendship survived childhood, awkward teenage years, and living together as young adults without ever venturing into the romantic—well, except for one kiss, but they don’t talk about that. When Frankie gets engaged to an older professor named Nate, George isn’t happy and a huge fight ensues. Despite his misgivings, George shows up to be her best man, but Nate leaves Frankie right before the wedding with only a cryptic letter. Devastated, Frankie goes to a friend’s house to recuperate, but her honeymoon is already planned and paid for—so she decides to travel to Tofino, a picturesque town on the coast of Vancouver Island, with George taking Nate’s place. Frankie wants to fix her friendship with George, but now that they’re in a romantic suite in a beautiful location, things are more complicated than ever. She’d always thought a relationship would be a bad idea, but she’s slowly beginning to realize they’ll never be able to go back to being kids. Maybe the only way forward involves forging a new kind of relationship. Fortune, the author of romances like This Summer Will Be Different (2024), returns with another love story full of longing and intense angst. The many allusions to Little Women are charming, and Frankie is a delightfully headstrong, feisty character. She and George have explosive chemistry, and Fortune manages to make the “will-they-or-won’t-they” nature of their relationship feel like life-or-death stakes.
A powerfully strong romance for readers who like their love stories full of torment and passion.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9780593953242
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A charming love story that absolutely radiates warmth.
A single mom winds up fake dating an incredibly wealthy man in her hometown.
Dolly Brick is back in her hometown of Whitfield, Rhode Island, for the summer to help her dad and disabled brother manage their house and family business. As a 39-year-old single mother with multiple jobs—which now include working at the Brick Fish House—Dolly is always busy. When her mom left their family years ago, Dolly took over caring for her siblings and father and never really stopped. When she runs into Stewart Whitfield after making a shrimp delivery to his family’s mansion, she doesn’t think they could be more different. She’s had to figure out how to do everything by herself, and he can’t even change a tire. That’s why Stewart’s proposal that she pretend to be his girlfriend feels so unbelievable—but it comes with a hefty check that she desperately needs for home repairs. So she becomes the fake girlfriend of Stewart Whitfield (as in, the Whitfields her town is named after; his real fiancée just dumped him and it’s a bad time for him to be single) and experiences what it’s like to walk into fancy buildings through the front door instead of the service entrance. More than the boats and helicopter and expensive dinners, though, Dolly is impressed by what a kind man Stewart is—and how it feels to let someone else take care of her for a change. Soon, their relationship starts to feel more real than fake. Monaghan creates an impossibly winning story with a charming, lovable heroine. Dolly is capable, hardworking, and will do anything for the people she loves. She and Stewart both possess real flaws, and while their relationship begins with one of the most beloved rom-com tropes, their challenges feel like realistic adult obstacles rather than easily solved miscommunications. It’s also refreshing that, even though Dolly must learn to allow other people to help her, she never views her caretaking responsibilities as burdens. She deeply loves her family, and that love carries through the entire story.
A charming love story that absolutely radiates warmth.Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9780593853979
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
SEEN & HEARD
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