A sweet conclusion to a romantic trilogy.
In this small-town romance, an engaged couple struggles to reconnect.
Trent Connolly and Whitney Carlisle should be happy. They’re both successful professionals in the charming California town of Blue Moon Bay: He’s a champion bodybuilder–turned–bar owner and she’s head of marketing and tourism for the entire town. Their courtship, starting in a pumpkin patch and culminating in a corn-maze proposal, sounds like a fairy tale. But real life has a way of intruding on even the most storybook of romances, especially for Whitney. Her mother is about to enter a nursing home with Alzheimer’s, the mayor’s son may be gunning for Whitney’s job, and a fairly recent car accident has exacerbated worrying symptoms of a chronic illness Whitney has thus far avoided disclosing to Trent. For his part, Trent can’t understand why the love of his life is slowly but surely pulling away, dodging any talk of wedding plans and spending more time in the office and much less at the couple’s home. Proud and fiercely independent since childhood, Whitney struggles more and more to keep it all together so as not to burden Trent, but as the pressures mount, Whitney realizes the life she’s worked so hard to build may fall apart. This is the third and final entry in Snow’s Blue Moon Bay series, and Whitney’s best friends and previous protagonists, Sarah and Jess, provide moral support and plenty of wisecracks at the heroine’s side. In a genre full of the blush of first love or lust, or both, it’s refreshing to read a story of an established couple, who must deal with what happens after most romance novels end—family, health, and work issues that should ideally be conquered as a team, even when that approach meets resistance from one or both parties. Trent is a gallant but realistic hero, sometimes acting to make Whitney’s life easier without consulting her first. Though the couple’s communication skills are sometimes worrisome, even at the end, Whitney and Trent are a pair worth rooting for throughout.
A sweet conclusion to a romantic trilogy.Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64937-213-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: July 11, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A book that will wolfishly appeal to the most heated fans of omegaverse erotica.
Tess Covington is a talented, successful contractor who just learned that she’s a late-in-life omega wolf shifter. Her new boss, surly innkeeper Hunter Barrett, is an alpha who’s opposed to the remodeling she’s there to do.
Tess hasn’t made it public that she’s being considered for her own HGTV makeover show, but she runs her career like a well-oiled machine. She posts a lot of her remodels on social media, granting her a certain level of celebrity, and leans on her brothers to help run the business she took over after a stroke made it impossible for her father to keep working. Hunter’s last serious relationship with an omega 10 years ago left him deeply wounded, ending when his parents were killed in a car accident and he moved back home to take care of their lodge—hence his resistance to change. With few exceptions, Tess keeps her newly diagnosed omega status to herself. Unfortunately, as an alpha, Hunter sniffs her out and seems to be the only person capable of helping her with her sudden heats, so there’s a lot of very smutty caretaking. The specificity of omegaverse hierarchy might be new to some readers, but Ferguson’s worldbuilding is quick, easy, and deeply horny. General romance readers might enjoy the grumpy-meets-sunshine and stranded-in-a-snowstorm tropes, although for a book about shifters, the characters spend surprisingly little time in wolf form. There’s not much danger of character development or surprising plot elements here, but for fans excited to read about animalistic mating, that might be enough.
A book that will wolfishly appeal to the most heated fans of omegaverse erotica.Pub Date: Dec. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9780593953693
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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