A lovely novel about love, grief, and connection.
In Michalski’s novel, two women who’ve had relationships with the same man fall in love with each other.
Two very different women, Lacie and Quinn, are, unbeknownst to them, connected to each other by the same man. Lacie has been married to Derek for many years, and his serial infidelity has caused many problems in their marriage. (She doesn’t know all the details of his affairs, or the names of all the women he’s slept with.) After therapy and many rounds of conversation, Lacie has tried to convince herself that she’s happy, or at least happy enough. But now that her two daughters are out of the house, she’s starting to have thoughts about leaving Derek. Quinn is a guitarist who used to perform with a Riot Grrrl band called The Clit Girls (“I don’t really play those songs anymore”). She spent much of that time embroiled in fights with her manipulative girlfriend, who led the band. Quinn met Derek at a music festival, and the two of them had a one-night stand. Quinn got pregnant and gave birth to her beloved daughter, Liv. She never told Derek about Liv, not even when Liv got sick with Batten disease. Quinn finally breaks down and contacts Derek after Liv dies at the age of 9. Derek suffers a stroke and is put into a coma; Lacie and Quinn meet for the first time at the hospital. Lacie has no idea who Quinn is, but Quinn knows exactly who Lacie is. They’re immediately attracted to each other, but can Lacie admit what she’s feeling to herself? And what will happen when Quinn finally reveals what happened between her and Derek? This is a tenderhearted LGBTQ+ narrative that deals with many difficult topics with sensitivity and openness. It also contains a lot of lovely observations about the Riot Grrrl scene, and about what it means to be a queer woman in today’s America. The plot can sometimes veer toward the melodramatic, and the language is a bit stilted in places, but readers will get a lot out of this touching story.
A lovely novel about love, grief, and connection.Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9781684426096
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Keylight Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
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