The title, oddly, has nothing to do with the book, but the romance is familiar.
In the first of a new series of romantic thrillers, chaps-wearing rancher Kade Logan meets his "darlin'," undercover agent Eleanor Bowman.
Near the small town of Coffee Springs, Colorado, is the Diamond Bar, Kade Logan's 19,000-acre cattle ranch. Eight years ago, someone murdered Kade's wife, Heather, and though she was frequently unfaithful to him, Kade still wants to find and punish her killer. So he hires undercover Denver agent Ellie Bowman, though he really didn't want a woman, to get him the answers he needs, and Ellie, who was brought up on a ranch, goes undercover to work as his cook's assistant. The first part of the book is more about the protagonists' increasing attraction than the unraveling of a mystery, but Martin seems to know her way around a working ranch, and she fills her romance with an interesting tutorial on what a well-run ranch does battle with each day. As Ellie investigates Heather's murder, a trespasser begins to sabotage the ranch: poisoning the water, killing cattle, wounding cowboys, shooting the beloved dog. As Ellie tries to figure out who hates Kade, she also gets into the saddle to help with ranch emergencies, rounding up 4,000 cows and fighting a forest fire. And as she moves into Kade's four-poster bed for the kind of wild, satisfying sex she's never known before, Ellie shows him gentle kindnesses he's never known, either. Martin repeatedly explains their conflict: Kade doesn't want to be hurt again, and independent Ellie doesn't want a possessive lover who doesn't trust her loyalty. But after Ellie's life is threatened and the murderer gets his just deserts, they find a way to work it out, with a ranch wedding Blake Shelton would have enjoyed.
The title, oddly, has nothing to do with the book, but the romance is familiar.Pub Date: Oct. 26, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4967-3679-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
SEEN & HEARD
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BOOK TO SCREEN
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