The comforting rewrite of Romeo and Juliet you didn’t know you needed.
A wronged childhood, a potential youthful romance derailed by the actions of adults, and a hard-won love.
Will Sterling is an overworked doctor in Chicago who has carved out a functional life despite his lingering grief over the way his late parents neglected him when he was a child. When he inherits an apartment from an uncle who also abandoned him when he was in need, he’s determined to get rid of it and the bad memories it carries as quickly as possible. But there is one good memory associated with the place: Years ago, the only time he ever visited his uncle, he caught a blurred and fleeting glimpse of a girl around his own age on a terrace upstairs, and his teenage heart came alive. Now Nora DeAngelo Clarke has come back into his orbit, though she has no idea they've ever crossed paths before. Web designer Nora, who's inherited her beloved grandmother's apartment, is ready to battle this stranger who threatens to change the character of the close-knit apartment building, her small haven, and the lives of its residents by renting out his new apartment on Airbnb. But underneath the righteousness is her own grief about adults who let her down and an anxiety-laced desire for the stability that the building and her found family there represents. Her initial scheme to sabotage Will’s plans gradually folds as their chemistry crackles and they slowly reveal their fragile selves to each other. Clayborn dwells on the gap between her characters' bruised inner lives and their public faces, and the novel is shadowed by that melancholy, making for a Mary Balogh–style love story. The quirky characters who could obstruct—but eventually aid—Will and Nora’s journey to coupledom do much to lighten the mood.
The comforting rewrite of Romeo and Juliet you didn’t know you needed.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4967-2519-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Haphazard and undemanding.
A sports agent’s first official client is the man she dumped years ago in college.
After two years of hard work as an underling, Nora Mackenzie is finally being promoted to full-time sports agent. She’s worked hard, kept quiet, and allowed men in the office to call her Mac—a nickname she hates—all to show she’s a team player and “one of the guys.” Unfortunately, her boss instructs her to sign Derek Pender, a football player coming off an injury, who happens to be the man she heartlessly dumped in their senior year of college. Derek signs with her for revenge, seeing it as his opportunity to pay Nora back for callously breaking his heart eight years earlier. He insists she be at his beck and call: answering his emails, running his errands, cooking dinner for his dates. He also refuses to let her explain why she broke up with him without warning or explanation. Nora feels she has no choice but to acquiesce to Derek’s humiliating demands, since she’s worked too hard to let him ruin her dream job. She hopes he’ll thaw and they might become friends, but Derek’s bad behavior is designed to hide the fact that he’s still in love with her. Nora’s characterization is uneven, veering between anger at how she’s treated in the male-dominated field to immature bickering and bantering with Derek. Although Adams likely meant for Derek and Nora’s interactions to have an enemies-to-lovers vibe, the characters instead seem juvenile and stuck in the past. The novel is fueled by a string of tropes—second chance romance! married in Vegas! only one bed!—each randomly deployed to keep the book going despite thin characterization and wan plotting.
Haphazard and undemanding.Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780593723678
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dell
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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