An inventive time-travel romance with an appealing mix of action and intrigue.
A surprise discovery leads a woman on a quest through time as she seeks a priceless brooch in Drennan’s romance novel.
As a child, Tessa Madigan loved spending time with her Uncle Theo in the home built by her grandfather on Balboa Island, California. When Theo died, Tessa inherited the home—and its secrets. While renovating the property with her boyfriend, Phillip Koenig, and best friend, Alexis “Lexi” Hill, she discovers a cache of valuables, including silverware and jewelry, hidden within the walls of the house. Tessa’s fascinated by the jewelry, particularly a serpent bangle that exerts an unusual power over her (“Tess snagged the bracelet, fascinated with its red rhinestone eyes”). As she researches the jewelry’s provenance, Tessa finds herself pulled back in time to 324 C.E., during the reign of Emperor Constantine, where she experiences life through the eyes of Kindra, a slave trained as a craftsperson by a man named Haldor. Tessa is not the only person interested in jewelry: A local shop owner and collector named Karl Johns and his sister-in-law, Valerie, also want the treasure and will stop at nothing to obtain it. When Tessa discovers that another piece—an exquisite cloisonné brooch—is missing, she again dons the bracelet to embark on a trip back through time to find the precious object before it’s lost forever. The narrative offers a satisfying blend of action and romance, with well-developed characters and an irresistible time-travel hook. Tessa Madigan is an amiable protagonist whose life becomes intertwined with that of Kindra, the craftsperson responsible for creating the cloisonné brooch at the heart of the story. The story moves seamlessly between Tessa’s life on Balboa Island in 2019 and Kindra’s life in 324 and her romance with Marcus, one of Emperor Constantine’s guards. Both the mystery of the jewelry’s provenance and the suspenseful search for the brooch are engaging and suspenseful.
An inventive time-travel romance with an appealing mix of action and intrigue.Pub Date: March 21, 2020
ISBN: 9781734258417
Page Count: 426
Publisher: KCPublications
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PERSPECTIVES
A charming love story that absolutely radiates warmth.
A single mom winds up fake dating an incredibly wealthy man in her hometown.
Dolly Brick is back in her hometown of Whitfield, Rhode Island, for the summer to help her dad and disabled brother manage their house and family business. As a 39-year-old single mother with multiple jobs—which now include working at the Brick Fish House—Dolly is always busy. When her mom left their family years ago, Dolly took over caring for her siblings and father and never really stopped. When she runs into Stewart Whitfield after making a shrimp delivery to his family’s mansion, she doesn’t think they could be more different. She’s had to figure out how to do everything by herself, and he can’t even change a tire. That’s why Stewart’s proposal that she pretend to be his girlfriend feels so unbelievable—but it comes with a hefty check that she desperately needs for home repairs. So she becomes the fake girlfriend of Stewart Whitfield (as in, the Whitfields her town is named after; his real fiancée just dumped him and it’s a bad time for him to be single) and experiences what it’s like to walk into fancy buildings through the front door instead of the service entrance. More than the boats and helicopter and expensive dinners, though, Dolly is impressed by what a kind man Stewart is—and how it feels to let someone else take care of her for a change. Soon, their relationship starts to feel more real than fake. Monaghan creates an impossibly winning story with a charming, lovable heroine. Dolly is capable, hardworking, and will do anything for the people she loves. She and Stewart both possess real flaws, and while their relationship begins with one of the most beloved rom-com tropes, their challenges feel like realistic adult obstacles rather than easily solved miscommunications. It’s also refreshing that, even though Dolly must learn to allow other people to help her, she never views her caretaking responsibilities as burdens. She deeply loves her family, and that love carries through the entire story.
A charming love story that absolutely radiates warmth.Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9780593853979
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.
On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.
Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374042
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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