This tarot-rooted romantasy is full of spice, but ultimately fails to intrigue.
After matching on a dating app, two unsuspecting people are magically dropped into a mysterious fantasy world.
Amanda Ward wants to believe she’s manifested success, but in truth, she’s struggling. A sexy text thread with her dating-app match, Manhattan venture capitalist Declan Thorne, is one of the few things that makes her feel like the most confident version of herself. When they finally meet, Declan turns out to be devastatingly handsome, but his intense personality sends Amanda scrambling for her tarot deck as a way to make their date feel more magical. Unfortunately, pulling the Wheel of Fortune card opens a portal that sends Amanda and Declan tumbling into a different world—the Kingdom of Wands. Forced to think on her feet, Amanda declares herself the Story Witch and Declan her loyal bodyguard—and to convince Wands’ sister-queens that she isn’t a spy, she agrees to put on nightly performances. While Amanda and Declan are forced to work together, they’re also looking for a way to get back to their own world. The mysterious force responsible for bringing the two of them to Wands is clearly connected to Amanda’s tarot deck, but the longer they remain in this magical realm, the more evident it becomes that Amanda possesses a secret power that’s just waiting for the opportunity to be unleashed. The latest book in Cast’s Towerfall series kicks off with a smoldering opening, but Amanda and Declan’s dynamic is cooled by the surprise teleportation that forces them into a dangerous setting and forces them to rely on each other in ways that have more to do with survival than romance. The tarot-based magic system is a unique element that helps the book stand apart in the romantasy genre, and there are moments of stunning prose, but Cast only skims the surface of the premise’s potential.
This tarot-rooted romantasy is full of spice, but ultimately fails to intrigue.Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781464235092
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Bloom Books
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
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
A deep and moving portrayal of first love.
Two college students rekindle their relationship as they unravel the truth behind their breakup.
On the outside, college senior Bennett Reiner has it all. A goalie for Waterfell University’s hockey team, he lives with a group of friends in a luxurious off-campus house. He and his best friend, Rhys Koteskiy, have fathers who are retired hockey legends. But on the inside, he’s falling apart. Struggling with OCD, a shaky friendship with Rhys, and second thoughts about pursuing a future in hockey, the only thing keeping Bennett afloat is also the one thing breaking his heart: Paloma Blake. All dyed-hair and attitude, Paloma has built a bad reputation on the hockey scene since their relationship ended freshman year—but Bennett knows the real P. Underneath her promiscuous facade lies a scared and lonely girl running from a childhood of abuse. When they were together, it seemed like their romance was perfect, until Paloma broke it off without warning. Since then, Bennett has run to Paloma’s side whenever she needed him, whether she was drunk, lonely, or hurting, and now he’s determined to win her back. For Bennett, Paloma is his antidote, the cure for his compulsions; for Paloma, Bennett is her protector, her safe space. And though Paloma yearns to be with Bennett again, she’s not sure she’s willing to open old wounds and reveal the truth about her painful past. In the third installment of the Undone series, Corinne spotlights familiar characters as they navigate trauma, heartbreak, and first love. Bennett and Paloma’s relationship is raw and vulnerable, and their journey of relinquishing control is both necessary and inevitable. Their romance evolves as they open up to one another, and in return, the reader is rewarded with a love story that’s as lyrical, evocative, and emotional as poetry.
A deep and moving portrayal of first love.Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9781668219423
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
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