The City of Light provides a beautiful backdrop for this stunning slow-burn romance.
A physician has to endure her ex-husband’s family—and an infuriatingly handsome best man—at her former sister-in-law’s destination wedding.
To hear Layla Bailey tell it, her divorce was amicable, but now she’s regretting her decision to stay friendly with her ex-husband Jamie’s family. When Emily, her former sister-in-law, all but begs Layla to attend her wedding in Paris, Layla can’t refuse. Then Jamie’s new girlfriend tags along, and there’s another member of the wedding party who’s even more distracting: best man Griffin Testa. He’s gruff, antagonistic, incredibly handsome, and visibly scarred in a way that hints at a traumatic past, and he also knows how to get under Layla’s skin with little more than a look. After a girls’ night out results in Emily getting cold feet, Griffin confronts Layla, demanding to know what she’d said to talk the bride out of the wedding. While Griffin is strangely determined to make sure this event goes off without a hitch, Layla doesn’t want to create a disruption for the family she once belonged to, either. The two reluctantly team up to calm any doubts that Emily and Michael—Griffin’s best friend—might be having, and as they’re increasingly forced into each other’s orbit, Griffin offers to be a buffer so Layla doesn’t have to face Jamie alone. Clayborn’s latest romance takes big swings, both in its approach to character and to some of the genre’s most well-trodden tropes—Griffin is likened to a dark fae prince at several turns in a way that feels like a teasing wink at romantasy. The book’s leads are both wounded in different ways, but as the story progresses and their chemistry blossoms, they lower the emotional walls they’ve spent years constructing in favor of embracing more vulnerability and honesty. The result is a tremendous love story that’s never overshadowed by its immersive Paris setting but poignantly accentuated by it, proof that Clayborn only gets better with every book.
The City of Light provides a beautiful backdrop for this stunning slow-burn romance.Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9780593819371
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
Two hot people confronting their trauma, making passionate love, and solving violent crimes! ’Nuff said.
A heartbroken man lusts after his therapist while seeking revenge on a drug kingpin and his enforcer.
Mitch Haskell’s wife, Angela, died two years ago of an apparent suicide, but Mitch has always believed the scene was staged. Certainly, she would never have willingly left their young son, Andrew, behind. Consumed with a thirst for vengeance, Mitch—a former Marine and undercover agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration and currently a police detective—is struggling with alcohol dependency and uncontrolled rage. Andrew is living with his in-laws, who are making not-so-subtle suggestions that they might apply for permanent guardianship if Mitch can’t get it together. So his boss and best friend, John Bowie, mandates that he go into therapy, which puts him in the path of sexy Dr. Dylan Reede. Within a few days, Mitch makes a connection between two new murders and the death of his former partner; finds a big clue that points to the truth about Angela’s death; goes undercover as a homeless man; takes on a vicious drug cartel; and obnoxiously bullies Dylan with a charm offensive that leads them inevitably to bed. While Mitch seems to lean into the stereotype of the ex-soldier/cop with deeply buried trauma who believes that the ends justify the means—at least in law enforcement—Dylan offers the strength and sweetness to help him start breaking down his walls, allowing herself to be vulnerable in turn. Is passionate sex enough to ground a relationship and a family for the long term? For these characters, and the breakneck speed of this thriller, it’s as good a foundation as any.
Two hot people confronting their trauma, making passionate love, and solving violent crimes! ’Nuff said.Pub Date: March 17, 2026
ISBN: 9781538743027
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 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
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