A tense, emotional mix of grief and romance.
In Cumiskey’s novel, a teenage girl sets aside her musical aspirations for an unpaid ad agency internship after a tragic accident.
The night that should have launched the dreams of rock stardom of 18-year-old Brynn and her boyfriend, Cody, instead becomes the line between her past and her present. Two cars, two accidents, three deaths—suddenly, Brynn is left to navigate the aftermath of losing both her parents and her boyfriend. With her parents’ assets liquidated and their properties sold to cover their large amount of debt, Brynn is left with only a claustrophobic studio apartment that she calls “the coffin” (“No bedroom or private bath here”).Music, once the lynchpin of her identity as the daughter of musicians, is put on the back burner in favor of getting a job to cover her mounting bills. She manages to land an interview at a prestigious New York ad agency; on her way there, she encounters Micah Kershaw, who’s impatient, rude, and closes the elevator doors on her when she steps out to help an elderly woman. Micah turns out to be her interviewer. His great-grandfather founded the agency in the early 1940s, and despite being only 20, Micah is an associate creative director. He informs Brynn that she doesn’t have enough experience to be a paid intern; she’s given the opportunity to work unpaid, and thus begins the development of their relationship, from reluctant co-workers to something more. Told via alternating perspectives, Cumiskey’s narrative manages to balance the budding romance with a well-rendered exploration of grief, familial expectations, and mental health. As Brynn rebuilds her life after tragedy, Micah struggles to conceal the schizophrenia that’s already cost him so much. The author is skilled at building tension, playing with readers’ investment in the characters’ relationship by having Micah’s fear of falling into psychosis hang over every interaction with Brynn. Part grief narrative, part workplace drama, and part love story, the novel compellingly examines how loss, ambition, and mental health intersect and questions how one can move on in love when a traumatic past is still being reckoned with.
A tense, emotional mix of grief and romance.Pub Date: March 10, 2026
ISBN: 9798896360902
Page Count: 376
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 13, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Two hot people confronting their trauma, making passionate love, and solving violent crimes! ’Nuff said.
A heartbroken man lusts after his therapist while seeking revenge on a drug kingpin and his enforcer.
Mitch Haskell’s wife, Angela, died two years ago of an apparent suicide, but Mitch has always believed the scene was staged. Certainly, she would never have willingly left their young son, Andrew, behind. Consumed with a thirst for vengeance, Mitch—a former Marine and undercover agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration and currently a police detective—is struggling with alcohol dependency and uncontrolled rage. Andrew is living with his in-laws, who are making not-so-subtle suggestions that they might apply for permanent guardianship if Mitch can’t get it together. So his boss and best friend, John Bowie, mandates that he go into therapy, which puts him in the path of sexy Dr. Dylan Reede. Within a few days, Mitch makes a connection between two new murders and the death of his former partner; finds a big clue that points to the truth about Angela’s death; goes undercover as a homeless man; takes on a vicious drug cartel; and obnoxiously bullies Dylan with a charm offensive that leads them inevitably to bed. While Mitch seems to lean into the stereotype of the ex-soldier/cop with deeply buried trauma who believes that the ends justify the means—at least in law enforcement—Dylan offers the strength and sweetness to help him start breaking down his walls, allowing herself to be vulnerable in turn. Is passionate sex enough to ground a relationship and a family for the long term? For these characters, and the breakneck speed of this thriller, it’s as good a foundation as any.
Two hot people confronting their trauma, making passionate love, and solving violent crimes! ’Nuff said.Pub Date: March 17, 2026
ISBN: 9781538743027
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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