Romance is only part of the payoff in this quirky yet humane story of a lonely shopkeeper conquering her fears.
In this bildungsroman of middle age, an aspiring bookseller wrestles her fears for love and professional fulfillment.
The aspiring Philadelphia bookstore proprietor at the center of this dreamily lyrical debut struggles with a phobia of touch that has long stymied her deepest desires. As the 40-year-old heroine—known only as “The Shopkeeper” for most of the novel—confesses to her writing-group classmates, she has never been kissed. And she’d like to change that. But more pressingly, the Shopkeeper—like the author, who is the proprietor of the real Harriett’s Bookshop in Philadelphia—is on the verge of fulfilling a lifelong dream of opening a bookstore named after her guide and inspiration, the legendary abolitionist and freedom fighter Harriet Tubman. But a shopkeeper who can’t come near her customers for fear of passing out is at a disadvantage. Since childhood, the Shopkeeper’s condition—haphephobia—has been so severe that a simple touch can cause her to feel a shock of electricity and lose consciousness. So she’s lived in her head, taking refuge in books—so much so that at times it’s hard for her (and for the reader) to distinguish what’s really happening from imagination. Now though, on the cusp of a new year, the Shopkeeper is determined; she has “declared this her year to conquer fear” and finally open the doors of the store. Joining that purposeful writing group “designed to help slowly bring trauma to the surface in a controlled manner” is part of the plan. Falling for a mysterious bearded man who says he, too, can’t be touched because he’s in training to be a monk is not. But he keeps popping up like magic. With his help and that of family and friends, change is finally within reach.
Romance is only part of the payoff in this quirky yet humane story of a lonely shopkeeper conquering her fears.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9780063430952
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
A beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop.
Three women deal very differently with vampirism in Schwab’s era-spanning follow-up to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020).
In 16th-century Spain, Maria seduces a wealthy viscount in an attempt to seize whatever control she can over her own life. It turns out that being a wife—even a wealthy one—is just another cage, but then a mysterious widow offers Maria a surprising escape route. In the 19th century, Charlotte is sent from her home in the English countryside to live with an aunt in London when she’s found trying to kiss her best friend. She’s despondent at the idea of marrying a man, but another mysterious widow—who has a secret connection to Maria’s widow from centuries earlier—appears and teaches Charlotte that she can be free to love whomever she chooses, if she’s brave enough. In 2019, Alice’s memories of growing up in Scotland with her mercurial older sister, Catty, pull her mind away from her first days at Harvard University. And though she doesn’t meet any mysterious widows, Alice wakes up alone after a one-night stand unable to tolerate sunlight, sporting two new fangs, and desperate to drink blood. Horrified at her transformation, she searches Boston for her hookup, who was the last person she remembers seeing before she woke up as a vampire. Schwab delicately intertwines the three storylines, which are compelling individually even before the reader knows how they will connect. Maria, Charlotte, and Alice are queer women searching for love, recognition, and wholeness, growing fangs and defying mortality in a world that would deny them their very existence. Alice’s flashbacks to Catty are particularly moving, and subtly play off themes of grief and loneliness laid out in the historical timelines.
A beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop.Pub Date: June 10, 2025
ISBN: 9781250320520
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
A wallowing, emotionally wrenching family drama that leaves little time for romance.
Two people with bad luck in relationships find each other through a popular Reddit thread.
Emma Grant and her best friend, Maddy, are travel nurses, working at hospitals for three-month stints while they see the country. Just a few weeks before they’re set to move to Hawaii, Emma reads a popular “Am I the Asshole” Reddit thread from a Minnesota man who thinks he’s cursed—women he dates find their soulmates after breaking up with him, and the latest one found true love with his best friend! Emma has had a similar experience, which inspires her to DM the man and commiserate. She’s delighted by her witty, lively interactions with software engineer Justin Dahl, and is intrigued when he suggests that if they date each other, maybe they’ll each find their soulmate afterward. Emma upends the Hawaii plan and convinces Maddy to move to Minneapolis for the summer so she can meet Justin in person. The overly complex setup brings Emma and Justin together and the two hit it off, with Justin immediately falling head over heels for Emma. Jimenez then pivots to creating romantic roadblocks and melodramatic subplots centering on each character’s family of origin. Justin’s mother is about to serve six years in prison for embezzlement, which means Justin must move back home to care for his three much younger siblings. Emma was traumatized by her own mother for much of her childhood, left to fend for herself and eventually abandoned in the foster system. When her mother shows up in Minnesota, Emma must face her traumatic childhood and admit that she has prioritized her mother’s well-being over her own. There is little time devoted to Emma’s painful efforts to heal herself enough to accept Justin’s love, which leaves the novel feeling unsatisfying.
A wallowing, emotionally wrenching family drama that leaves little time for romance.Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781538704431
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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