What should be a thoughtfully constructed, sensuous confection falls flat.
A young pastry chef returning to Madrid after years in the U.S. becomes entangled with a wealthy Spanish NYU student in this debut novel.
Demetrio has lived in New York City with no documents since he was 8 years old and has spent his entire adult life working at the same restaurant. But when, at 24, he finally pursues a more prestigious pastry chef position, his fears about his lack of papers come to fruition, and he finds himself on a plane back to a country he hardly remembers. On that trans-Atlantic flight, he connects with Jacobo, the charming scion of a right-wing businessman. A Jane Austen–esque illness strands Demetrio with Jacobo and his family once they disembark, and before long, the two are inseparable and inching toward a romance. If only the many points of tension set up along the way—Demetrio’s increasing financial dependence on Jacobo, Jacobo’s father’s conservatism, Demetrio’s uneasy position as a stranger in his nominal homeland, and the two men's growing attraction to each other—could be felt by the reader. Fuentes has an unfortunate tendency to stretch credulity on multiple fronts. The glimpses into Demetrio’s artistry as a chef are surprisingly few and often underrealized, with our protagonist pursuing unlikely activities like making ganache on a beach. Jacobo never emerges as a complete human being with specific ambitions and foibles, and the novel seems uninterested in what it means for him to accept money and support from his fascist family. Demetrio’s narration occasionally sparkles, but the dialogue is stilted and sometimes dated beyond the novel’s 2007 setting. Opportunities for conflict arise only to disappear a handful of pages later, and by the time a surprise inclusion in a will is introduced, it has become clear that the characters are immune to meaningful consequences to their actions.
What should be a thoughtfully constructed, sensuous confection falls flat.Pub Date: June 6, 2023
ISBN: 9780593317587
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Pantheon
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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