A fun bit of escapism with four equally sweet romances.
Four couples find love during the holidays in this romance novella collection.
In Lucky Fall, 22-year-old Michigander Sarah Faulk, a restaurant manager who has spent most of her life raising her now-adult siblings after her parents’ deaths, receives a surprise gift from her best friend, Cristine: tickets to see her favorite band in Dublin. This is the city where Sarah’s parents met and fell in love. As St. Patrick’s Day approaches, Sarah retraces her parents’ romance and falls in love herself, both with Dublin and with the band’s PR manager, Bash. The Fourth of July is the central holiday of Pawsitively Perfect, as a chance encounter between veterinarian Leigh and military veteran James (involving her large dog, Pogo, and a bowl of badly made potato salad) leads to a friends-to-lovers relationship as the two team up to plan a canine-friendly outdoor fundraiser. Can Leigh shake off the residual hurt from her cheating ex-boyfriend? Next, Leigh’s colorful office manager, Rosalie, gets her own story in All Thanks to You when she meets handsome cat person Jonah Keene at an animal shelter Halloween party. He turns out to be her troubled teenage sister’s English teacher—and he causes her to question her own fear of commitment, set in place by perpetually warring parents. In the final novella, Beaver Creek Resort, single mother Claire Donahue reluctantly goes on a pre-Christmas trip with her young daughter, Tessa, and sister, Sydney, and forges an unexpected, strong connection with ski instructor Blake. Johnson tells each tale from the leading woman’s point of view (all except Lucky Fall employ the first person). The four female protagonists are fully formed before meeting their heroes, with a diverse range of experiences featuring the common threads of fulfilling jobs and rich relationships with friends and family. Each story has appropriately festive touches, from Guinness in Irish pubs to cute Halloween costumes and romantic Christmas surprises. Though one particular detail is confusing (two tales contain characters named Jonah who seem to be different people), the collection is a fast, enjoyable read.
A fun bit of escapism with four equally sweet romances.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73595-569-8
Page Count: 204
Publisher: Lore and Lyre
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Sink your teeth into this delightful paranormal romance with a modern twist.
A vampire and an Alpha werewolf enter into a marriage of convenience in order to ease tensions between their species.
As the only daughter of a prominent Vampyre councilman, Misery Lark has grown accustomed to playing the role that’s demanded of her—and now, her father is ordering her to be part of yet another truce agreement. In an effort to maintain goodwill between the Vampyres and their longtime nemeses the Weres, Misery must wed their Alpha, Lowe Moreland. But it turns out that Misery has her own motivations for agreeing to this political marriage, including finding answers about what happened to her best friend, who went missing after setting up a meeting in Were territory. Isolated from her kind and surrounded on all sides by the enemy after the wedding, Misery refuses to let herself forget about her real mission. It doesn’t matter that Lowe is one of the most confounding and intense people she’s ever met, or that the connection building between them doesn’t feel like one born entirely of convenience. There’s also the possibility that Lowe may already have a Were mate of his own, but in spite of their biological differences, they may turn out to be the missing piece in each other’s lives. While this is Hazelwood’s first paranormal romance, and the book does lean on some hallmark tropes of the genre, the contemporary setting lends itself to the author’s trademark humor and makes the political plot more easily digestible. Misery and Lowe’s slow-burn romance is appealing enough that readers will readily devour every moment between them and hunger to return to them whenever the story diverts from their scenes together.
Sink your teeth into this delightful paranormal romance with a modern twist.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9780593550403
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
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