The Mrs. Astor of Gilded Age romances provides another smart and sexy read.
A childhood engagement between the children of one-time business partners becomes a steamy affair between enemies.
Katherine Delafield is done waiting—she’s been betrothed to Preston Clarke since she was a child and their fathers agreed to the match, but she’s still not married to him. However, when she reminds him of this fact and tries to set a date for the wedding, he strongly declines, and Katherine decides to move on and stop waiting for marriage. As a relatively free and privileged young woman of the Gilded Age, she’s ready to explore the wilder side of New York City and declares to her friends that she wants to have an affair. For his part, merciless tycoon Preston has, as always, been too absorbed in his tireless work to think much about the visit from Katherine. In need of relaxation, he decides to go to a famous downtown party that’s known to be “quite risqué”—the French Ball at Madison Square Garden. But wouldn’t you know it? It’s the same debauched evening Katherine is attending in search of her first affair. Masked and anonymous, they share a red-hot intimate moment and vow to meet again soon. When they discover the truth about their masked encounter the following night, both are furious but quickly find that the pull of their chemistry is so strong that they begin a series of steamy clandestine meetings and even develop a friendship of sorts despite Preston’s long-standing hatred for Katherine's father. They tell themselves they’re just having an adventure, but as their unusual connection deepens, the rivalry between their families becomes even more serious. Shupe’s well-loved Fifth Avenue Rebels series returns with a very saucy friends-with-benefits story. As ever, her command of historical details enlivens the story just as much as her command of intimate ones—and yes, that means she has proof that there really were indecent public events in New York in the 1890s. Preston is the kind of delightfully anachronistic historical romance hero Shupe’s fans love, and he works perfectly in combination with Katherine's bold bluestocking ways; those fans will be glad to hear the series is not yet done and get a glimpse of the next book at the end of this one.
The Mrs. Astor of Gilded Age romances provides another smart and sexy read.Pub Date: May 24, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-304506-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
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
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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