An entertaining tale exploring love, consent, and the differences between found and biological families.
In Spears’ Starlight and Cinnamon (2025), corporate spy Daphne Redgrave encountered romance, but in this series entry, her sister takes the spotlight.
Matalina "Mattie" Redgrave, an introverted freelance writer, is forced to quarantine for 14 days in an Aotearoa New Zealand hotel during the height of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. However, Mattie, calling herself “M,” has fun corresponding via letters with another hotel guest who signs his missives “R.” Soon R is revealed to be the film star Raphael “Raph” Callan. Desperately evading an ex-girlfriend and a repulsive book (That Scarlet, Beating Heart) slated for film adaptation, Raph’s frayed nerves are soothed by M’s correspondence. The budding relationship develops rapidly, encouraged on Mattie’s side by Daphne and friend Rin Butcher, and on Raph’s by his “best mate” Luke Maston. After the quarantine ends and Mattie and Raph test negative for Covid, they can finally meet in person. But crises loom: Mattie is guilted into attending her brother’s wedding as a bridesmaid, paired to a groomsman who bullied her in school, while Raph’s former lover Edie Everette thinks that lies will win him back. Can the mischief-making team of Daphne, Rin, and Mattie again pave the way for love? Spears deftly uses letters, emails, and texts, ranging in tone from witty to wise, to illuminate various facets of the characters. In a group chat, Rin teases, “Mattie’s so thirsty she’s ready to fall in bed SORRY I meant in love after four letters…” But later, Rin and Daphne fiercely contradict Mattie’s self-deprecating texts. Letter-writing levels the playing field between Mattie and Raph, enabling them to find similarities, such as insecurity about their own bodies. Spears promises in an author’s note that "there will be kissing," and she delivers, but the usual graphic sex for the genre is humorously subverted when Mattie, garbed in "Victorian widow" clothes, has so many layers on that Raph can’t even feel her skin at first. The intriguing New Zealand setting, though, is neutralized by its timeframe, as Covid-related lockdowns are strongly enforced in the country.
An entertaining tale exploring love, consent, and the differences between found and biological families.Pub Date: Dec. 9, 2025
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Fresh and upbeat, though not without flaws.
An earnest grad student and a faculty member with a bit of a jerkish reputation concoct a fake dating scheme in this nerdy, STEM-filled contemporary romance.
Olive Smith and professor Adam Carlsen first met in the bathroom of Adam's lab. Olive wore expired contact lenses, reducing her eyes to temporary tears, while Adam just needed to dispose of a solution. It's a memory that only one of them has held onto. Now, nearly three years later, Olive is fully committed to her research in pancreatic cancer at Stanford University's biology department. As a faculty member, Adam's reputation precedes him, since he's made many students cry or drop their programs entirely with his bluntness. When Olive needs her best friend, Anh, to think she's dating someone so Anh will feel more comfortable getting involved with Olive's barely-an-ex, Jeremy, she impulsively kisses Adam, who happens to be standing there when Anh walks by. But rumors start to spread, and the one-time kiss morphs into a fake relationship, especially as Adam sees there's a benefit for him. The university is withholding funds for Adam's research out of fear that he'll leave for a better position elsewhere. If he puts down more roots by getting involved with someone, his research funds could be released at the next budgeting meeting in about a month's time. After setting a few ground rules, Adam and Olive agree that come the end of September, they'll part ways, having gotten what they need from their arrangement. Hazelwood has a keen understanding of romance tropes and puts them to good use—in addition to fake dating, Olive and Adam are an opposites-attract pairing with their sunny and grumpy personalities—but there are a couple of weaknesses in this debut novel. Hazelwood manages to sidestep a lot of the complicated power dynamics of a student-faculty romance by putting Olive and Adam in different departments, but the impetus for their fake relationship has much higher stakes for Adam. Olive does reap the benefits of dating a faculty member, but in the end, she's still the one seemingly punished or taunted by her colleagues; readers may have been hoping for a more subversive twist. For a first novel, there's plenty of shine here, with clear signs that Hazelwood feels completely comfortable with happily-ever-afters.
Fresh and upbeat, though not without flaws.Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-33682-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A lovely and moving romance that examines what it truly means to live.
Opposites attract when a Grim Reaper clashes with a Guardian Angel in this whimsical paranormal romance.
Darcy Moore is in a bit of a tough spot; she’s a Grim Reaper who’s grown tired of death. When she’s given her next assignment, Darcy decides to go rogue. Rather than reaping, Darcy is determined to save her mark, which only upsets the balance kept by the Department of Hauntings and Spirits. Nothing good comes from a Grim Reaper who’s gone AWOL. Bartender Gabriel Aetos works as a Guardian Angel. He doesn’t take kindly to the fact that a Grim Reaper is slinking around his territory. His role is to protect people, while hers is to usher souls into death. To him, their very natures are at odds and his sudden attraction to Darcy won’t change that. This is very much a grumpy-meets-grumpy romance. Gabriel tries hard to keep Darcy at arm’s length and is open about his mistrust of her. Darcy’s standoffishness, though, is born out of her feelings of isolation and loneliness. Dealing in death has taken an obvious toll on her, and she’s traveling her own introspective path on what it means to be human. Darcy’s fragility is what slowly convinces Gabriel to get close to her, despite the heady yearning he keeps under wraps. However, both view their jobs as central to their existence, for better or worse. While Darcy is actively wondering what it would mean to break free of her Grim Reaper responsibilities, Gabriel has never seemed to ponder being anything other than a Guardian Angel. Borison’s romances—most recently And Now, Back to You (2026)—always strike an emotional chord, with deep-seated conflicts that tap into themes of identity, connection, and grief. This addition is truly the epitome of a Borison romance.
A lovely and moving romance that examines what it truly means to live.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2026
ISBN: 9780063430464
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
