The fourth novel in the Hellcat Canyon series highlights Long’s deftness at staging small-town romance.
An elementary school principal with a Navy SEAL body woos a down-to-earth florist who realizes romance is worth fighting for.
Eden Harwood is too busy being a single mom to her 10-year-old and managing her thriving business to go on a date. Veteran Gabe Caldera really wants to change her mind. But when do two adults with too many obligations find the time to explore the possibility that they might be perfect for each other? It may have to be in the parking lot of the school where Gabe is the principal, or his office, or on a soccer field, or in a car in a secluded spot off the road. Long (Dirty Dancing at Devil’s Leap, 2017, etc.) sets up a playful courtship between her protagonists, with every rushed conversation ending on a cliffhanger that they pick up the next time they cross paths. She’s also skilled at ratcheting up the sexual tension alongside the emotional connections that the two build through their repartee, which may make the reader nostalgic for a time before everyone filled out online dating profiles. The charm of the novel also comes from the fact that its setting has been fleshed out over several books, and the cast of characters in the town has expanded and deepened, echoing the author’s Pennyroyal Green historical romance series. The novel varies its tone well in the first half, mixing comic dialogue with hints of Gabe's and Eden’s secret depths. Though it succumbs a little to melodrama in the second half, when Eden’s past comes back to town, the overall impression is of lightness and hope. This blend of sweetness and conflict evokes Nora Roberts’ early Americana.
The fourth novel in the Hellcat Canyon series highlights Long’s deftness at staging small-town romance.Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267290-2
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable...
An unlucky woman finally gets lucky in love on an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii.
From getting her hand stuck in a claw machine at age 6 to losing her job, Olive Torres has never felt that luck was on her side. But her fortune changes when she scores a free vacation after her identical twin sister and new brother-in-law get food poisoning at their wedding buffet and are too sick to go on their honeymoon. The only catch is that she’ll have to share the honeymoon suite with her least favorite person—Ethan Thomas, the brother of the groom. To make matters worse, Olive’s new boss and Ethan’s ex-girlfriend show up in Hawaii, forcing them both to pretend to be newlyweds so they don’t blow their cover, as their all-inclusive vacation package is nontransferable and in her sister’s name. Plus, Ethan really wants to save face in front of his ex. The story is told almost exclusively from Olive’s point of view, filtering all communication through her cynical lens until Ethan can win her over (and finally have his say in the epilogue). To get to the happily-ever-after, Ethan doesn’t have to prove to Olive that he can be a better man, only that he was never the jerk she thought he was—for instance, when she thought he was judging her for eating cheese curds, maybe he was actually thinking of asking her out. Blending witty banter with healthy adult communication, the fake newlyweds have real chemistry as they talk it out over snorkeling trips, couples massages, and a few too many tropical drinks to get to the truth—that they’re crazy about each other.
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable as well as free.Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2803-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
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