There’s magic in an artist’s newfound powers, but it’s her fated love that’s truly magical.
A Native American may be destined to find the love of her life and become her tribe’s most powerful medicine woman in 200 years in this debut romance novel.
Kay Baker, who grew up outside her Clatsop tribe, enjoys life as a New York artist. Her parents’ deaths in a car accident, however, take her back to Ilwaco, her Washington state hometown. Kay doesn’t believe in fate, but this may change when she meets Sam Morandi, a neighbor helping her care for her Alzheimer’s-ridden grandmother, Hannah. Sam’s the spitting image of Motorcycle Man from a series Kay painted back in New York. She also realizes that her mother may have had the power to see the future. Kay has that, too, and then some: she learns she’s a legendary medicine woman, or keelalle, with further abilities of healing and controlling the weather. Destiny, it seems, has something in store for her, and she’ll have to wait to see what that is. The novel, despite Kay’s apparent supernatural capabilities, doesn’t play like a fantasy. Manthey aptly focuses on the dramatic overtones, starting with Kay coming to terms with her new existence. She, for example, doesn’t just lose her parents, but her New York life as well, since she’d promised her mom not to put Hannah in a nursing home. Her powers, too, aren’t otherworldly, as they’re often tied to her loved ones, such as predicting a friend’s undiagnosed cancer or creating a snowstorm when saddened by recent losses. Kay and Sam fall in love rather quickly, but the notion that they’re likely soul mates gives credence to their swift romance. And there’s plenty of starry-eyed moments: “In love, all things are possible,” says John Lane, the tribe’s council chairman, after Kay’s thoughts of Sam explain why the snow may be melting. Where Kay’s destiny takes her is something Manthey saves until the end. This includes her fascinating back story: she’s a descendent of Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis and Clark), but the historical claim that Lewis died childless has erased her lineage. Lewis’ missing journal pages and his possible murder, meanwhile, add a dash of mystery to the plot.
There’s magic in an artist’s newfound powers, but it’s her fated love that’s truly magical.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-5150-9788-4
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dog Ear Publisher
Review Posted Online: Nov. 30, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.
A promise to his best friend leads an Army serviceman to a family in need and a chance at true love in this novel.
Beckett Gentry is surprised when his Army buddy Ryan MacKenzie gives him a letter from Ryan’s sister, Ella. Abandoned by his mother, Beckett grew up in a series of foster homes. He is wary of attachments until he reads Ella’s letter. A single mother, Ella lives with her twins, Maisie and Colt, at Solitude, the resort she operates in Telluride, Colorado. They begin a correspondence, although Beckett can only identify himself by his call sign, Chaos. After Ryan’s death during a mission, Beckett travels to Telluride as his friend had requested. He bonds with the twins while falling deeply in love with Ella. Reluctant to reveal details of Ryan’s death and risk causing her pain, Beckett declines to disclose to Ella that he is Chaos. Maisie needs treatment for neuroblastoma, and Beckett formally adopts the twins as a sign of his commitment to support Ella and her children. He and Ella pursue a romance, but when an insurance investigator questions the adoption, Beckett is faced with revealing the truth about the letters and Ryan’s death, risking losing the family he loves. Yarros’ (Wilder, 2016, etc.) novel is a deeply felt and emotionally nuanced contemporary romance bolstered by well-drawn characters and strong, confident storytelling. Beckett and Ella are sympathetic protagonists whose past experiences leave them cautious when it comes to love. Beckett never knew the security of a stable home life. Ella impulsively married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended when he discovered she was pregnant. The author is especially adept at developing the characters through subtle but significant details, like Beckett’s aversion to swearing. Beckett and Ella’s romance unfolds slowly in chapters that alternate between their first-person viewpoints. The letters they exchanged are pivotal to their connection, and almost every chapter opens with one. Yarros’ writing is crisp and sharp, with passages that are poetic without being florid. For example, in a letter to Beckett, Ella writes of motherhood: “But I’m not the center of their universe. I’m more like their gravity.” While the love story is the book’s focus, the subplot involving Maisie’s illness is equally well-developed, and the link between Beckett and the twins is heartfelt and sincere.
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-533-3
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Jan. 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
