Super cute and comfy.
Childhood friends who grew apart reunite in a fake-dating scheme that brings up all-too-real feelings.
Fable Oaks feels adrift. She’s back home in Fern River, a small town in the Pacific Northwest, living in her beloved, departed grandfather’s falling-apart A-frame. She dropped out of college and hasn’t been able to find a job or a relationship that really sparks a fire inside her. Her former best friend turned school rival, Theo Nikolaou, has also returned to their hometown. Family trauma led him to leave years ago, but now he’s ready to put down roots—especially if he gets a chance to buy the veterinary clinic where he works. He just has to prove to his boss that he truly means to stay put. When a rumor circulates that he’s dating Fable, Theo decides to lean into it to show his commitment to sticking around. At first, Fable doesn’t want to play along, but when Theo offers to help fix her house, she gives in. Theo knows just how to nettle Fable, but as their mutual teasing becomes increasingly flirtatious and they rediscover their friendship, they each wonder what this relationship could look like if it were real. Populated with lovable side characters and oozing small-town charm, this spicy-sweet, low-stakes romance is the epitome of cozy. Heavier subjects like Fable’s grief and Theo’s history with an abusive father are approached with care but not examined much beyond the surface level. Fable and Theo’s closest friends and family know about the fake-dating plan, so there’s no big tension or drama. Instead, the focus is on these characters, who everyone knows should be together, finally figuring that out for themselves and finding the confidence and vulnerability to open themselves up to love.
Super cute and comfy.Pub Date: March 10, 2026
ISBN: 9780063416208
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
A romance that could have used significant rethinking.
Childhood friends, almost-sweethearts, a misunderstanding, and a funeral.
Blair Lang and Declan Renshaw were best friends who went on one date before a disagreement and an accident sent them in different directions after high school. Now Blair is back from college to be with her great-aunt Lottie, who’s dying, and to support her single mother in small-town Seabrook, California. Finding a job at a coffee shop puts her in the path of her former boyfriend, since he turns out to be its owner. Can the two get past their mistakes? The novel uses the popular second-chance romance trope, but Pham fails to energize it through interesting characters. Blair’s grief over her great-aunt’s death and her plan to help her mother are overshadowed by internal monologues about her feelings, the way her friends aren’t paying attention to her, and the novel she plans to write. Declan’s distinguishing characteristic, besides being a former high school quarterback, is his skill at building birdhouses. Unsurprisingly, the couple doesn’t have much chemistry; when they embrace, their “bodies meld like…memory foam.” The wooden characters, unusual word choices (“conglomerate of pedestrians,” “litany of plants”), and odd turns of phrase (“tension melting from his eyebrows like butter melting in a warm pan”) are almost enough to obscure the lack of plot development. What passes for stakes is easily defused when Blair comes into an inheritance that saves her from working as a consultant at Ernst & Young in New York—so she can write a romance novel.
A romance that could have used significant rethinking.Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781668095188
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
Two hot people confronting their trauma, making passionate love, and solving violent crimes! ’Nuff said.
A heartbroken man lusts after his therapist while seeking revenge on a drug kingpin and his enforcer.
Mitch Haskell’s wife, Angela, died two years ago of an apparent suicide, but Mitch has always believed the scene was staged. Certainly, she would never have willingly left their young son, Andrew, behind. Consumed with a thirst for vengeance, Mitch—a former Marine and undercover agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration and currently a police detective—is struggling with alcohol dependency and uncontrolled rage. Andrew is living with his in-laws, who are making not-so-subtle suggestions that they might apply for permanent guardianship if Mitch can’t get it together. So his boss and best friend, John Bowie, mandates that he go into therapy, which puts him in the path of sexy Dr. Dylan Reede. Within a few days, Mitch makes a connection between two new murders and the death of his former partner; finds a big clue that points to the truth about Angela’s death; goes undercover as a homeless man; takes on a vicious drug cartel; and obnoxiously bullies Dylan with a charm offensive that leads them inevitably to bed. While Mitch seems to lean into the stereotype of the ex-soldier/cop with deeply buried trauma who believes that the ends justify the means—at least in law enforcement—Dylan offers the strength and sweetness to help him start breaking down his walls, allowing herself to be vulnerable in turn. Is passionate sex enough to ground a relationship and a family for the long term? For these characters, and the breakneck speed of this thriller, it’s as good a foundation as any.
Two hot people confronting their trauma, making passionate love, and solving violent crimes! ’Nuff said.Pub Date: March 17, 2026
ISBN: 9781538743027
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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