An engrossing story that reveals how small-town lives can have big complications.
Leary’s novel examines the unpredictable costs of keeping secrets.
In the small, rural college town of Shelton, Pennsylvania, young peoples’ possibilities are determined by cliques: “In the Venn Diagram of Shelton (PA) High School, three groups intersect: faculty children, townies, and farmers.” As a farm kid, Wanda MacDonald is accustomed to being at the bottom of this social construct. She’s smart and dreams of becoming a nurse, but she instead marries her longtime boyfriend, David Zacek, a proverbial dumb jock. When David gets laid off from his factory job, he enlists in the Army without consulting Wanda and is killed by an IED when he is deployed near Baghdad. Lost in her grief, Wanda conceives a child with local misfit Whit Sutter and gives birth to a boy she names Macky, telling everyone the baby is David’s. Being a professor’s daughter doesn’t prevent Callie Morton, another Shelton girl, from making bad choices: While attending the local Brewster College, she falls for Greg Minot, a French professor 10 years her senior, and they run away together, a decision she will regret. Callie and Wanda eventually become unlikely friends as the author constructs a moving narrative about the impact of secrets: They truly need each other, discovering that confession is good for their souls and learning that they must admit and work past their mistakes if they are to move ahead with their lives. Leary's long experience as a teacher shines through as she reflects on how the educational system treats those from varying backgrounds in quite different ways. The novel’s structure, alternating between Wanda’s and Callie’s stories, proves effective, as the reader gets to see how both women flounder and then mature.
An engrossing story that reveals how small-town lives can have big complications.Pub Date: May 15, 2023
ISBN: 9781953236852
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Fomite
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A book begging to be read on the beach, with the sun warming the sand and salt in the air: pure escapism.
Three woman who join together to rent a large space along the beach in Los Angeles for their stores—a gift shop, a bakery, and a bookstore—become fast friends as they each experience the highs, and lows, of love.
Bree is a friendly but standoffish bookstore owner who keeps everyone she knows at arm’s length, from guys she meets in bars to her friends. Mikki is a settled-in-her-routines divorced mother of two, happily a mom, gift-shop owner, and co-parent with her ex-husband, Perry. And Ashley is a young, very-much-in-love bakery owner specializing in muffins who devotes herself to giving back to the community through a nonprofit that helps community members develop skills and find jobs. When the women meet drooling over a boardwalk storefront that none of them can afford on her own, a plan is hatched to divide the space in three, and a friendship—and business partnership—is born. An impromptu celebration on the beach at sunset with champagne becomes a weekly touchpoint to their lives as they learn more about each other and themselves. Their friendship blossoms as they help each other, offering support, hard truths, and loving backup. Author Mallery has created a delightful story of friendship between three women that also offers a variety of love stories as they fall in love, make mistakes, and figure out how to be the best—albeit still flawed—versions of themselves. The men are similarly flawed and human. While the story comes down clearly on the side of all-encompassing love, Mallery has struck a careful balance: There is just enough sex to be spicy, just enough swearing to be naughty, and just enough heartbreak to avoid being cloying.
A book begging to be read on the beach, with the sun warming the sand and salt in the air: pure escapism.Pub Date: May 31, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-778-38608-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2022
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