by Hannah Orenstein ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 6, 2019
A classic wacky rom-com and an ideal summer read.
An Instagram mishap leads to a fake engagement announcement for a struggling jeweler…and when sales spike, she decides to play along.
Eliza Roth spent her childhood dreaming of owning a store, and with her sister, Sophie, she's able to make her dream come alive in the form of Brooklyn Jewels. When Eliza finds out via Instagram that her no-good ex is engaged, she indulges in one of her favorite ways to take out her frustration—creating fake engagement announcements for herself, using the beautiful rings she sells in the store, complete with cheesy, gag-inducing captions. But when Eliza wakes up to a flurry of Instagram activity, she realizes that she accidentally posted her fake announcement, including an eye-roll–worthy caption: “They say when you know, you know…and I know I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” Eliza and Sophie are both mortified, but the two of them quickly see that all this online attention is bringing in major sales. And with an upcoming rent hike that means they might not be able to stay in their current building, plus Sophie and her wife’s expensive fertility treatments, they need the money. When a wedding venue reaches out to offer their facility to Eliza free of charge, she pounces on it. All the publicity from a highly Instagrammable wedding will surely bring in the money they need. The only problem? There’s no groom. She sets off to find a fake fiance in a bar and ends up stumbling upon Blake, a fellow jeweler who seems picture perfect. When they start dating, Eliza doesn’t tell him about her plan…and as they grow closer, she thinks it’s too late to come clean. But when Eliza starts to develop a real connection to her bartender friend, Raj, things get a lot more complicated. While some aspects of the story strain credulity (Blake frequently says he isn’t on Instagram, but it seems unlikely that he or one of his friends wouldn’t encounter some of the online press about Eliza’s “engagement”), the story is so fun and fast paced that it hardly matters. Orenstein’s (Playing With Matches, 2018) writing is quick, witty, and compulsively readable even when Eliza’s desperate actions evoke cringes. Although the story is over the top, the feelings are real, and readers will be able to relate to Eliza’s struggle to find her soul mate in the age of apps and social media.
A classic wacky rom-com and an ideal summer read.Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-9821-1779-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
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by Christina Lauren ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 10, 2018
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
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by Rebecca Yarros ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 26, 2019
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.
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A promise to his best friend leads an Army serviceman to a family in need and a chance at true love in this novel.
Beckett Gentry is surprised when his Army buddy Ryan MacKenzie gives him a letter from Ryan’s sister, Ella. Abandoned by his mother, Beckett grew up in a series of foster homes. He is wary of attachments until he reads Ella’s letter. A single mother, Ella lives with her twins, Maisie and Colt, at Solitude, the resort she operates in Telluride, Colorado. They begin a correspondence, although Beckett can only identify himself by his call sign, Chaos. After Ryan’s death during a mission, Beckett travels to Telluride as his friend had requested. He bonds with the twins while falling deeply in love with Ella. Reluctant to reveal details of Ryan’s death and risk causing her pain, Beckett declines to disclose to Ella that he is Chaos. Maisie needs treatment for neuroblastoma, and Beckett formally adopts the twins as a sign of his commitment to support Ella and her children. He and Ella pursue a romance, but when an insurance investigator questions the adoption, Beckett is faced with revealing the truth about the letters and Ryan’s death, risking losing the family he loves. Yarros’ (Wilder, 2016, etc.) novel is a deeply felt and emotionally nuanced contemporary romance bolstered by well-drawn characters and strong, confident storytelling. Beckett and Ella are sympathetic protagonists whose past experiences leave them cautious when it comes to love. Beckett never knew the security of a stable home life. Ella impulsively married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended when he discovered she was pregnant. The author is especially adept at developing the characters through subtle but significant details, like Beckett’s aversion to swearing. Beckett and Ella’s romance unfolds slowly in chapters that alternate between their first-person viewpoints. The letters they exchanged are pivotal to their connection, and almost every chapter opens with one. Yarros’ writing is crisp and sharp, with passages that are poetic without being florid. For example, in a letter to Beckett, Ella writes of motherhood: “But I’m not the center of their universe. I’m more like their gravity.” While the love story is the book’s focus, the subplot involving Maisie’s illness is equally well-developed, and the link between Beckett and the twins is heartfelt and sincere.
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-533-3
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Jan. 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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