An entertaining romance for readers with a taste for comedy and horror.
A formidable female monster meets her match in Brody’s romantic comedy, the first in a new series.
Darla Drake, feared across her family’s territory of Clear Creek as the Duchess of Death, is having an existential crisis: Hunting awful humans with her scourge is no longer giving her any fulfillment, and, in a completely out-of-character moment, Darla finds herself letting a victim go with his life. Utterly confused, Darla retreats to her cave, where she lives with her mother and occasionally seeks the company of her best friend, Gretl. A year passes, and one night Darla stumbles across another monster in the forest—a tentacled creature she has never seen before who is trespassing on her territory. His name is Jarko Murkvale, and he proves to be surprisingly tall and attractive when Darla confronts him (“she hated herself for even thinking it, but the creature was… kind of hot?”). With Darla having abandoned hunting for so long, Clear Creek is now open territory, and she realizes she has to get back to basics to keep control of her home and avoid losing her heart. This is a quirky romance, set in between the realms of monsters and humans. Brody does a great job of worldbuilding and bringing dark comedy, but the narrative begins a bit abruptly, plunging readers into the initially jarring circumstances of Clear Creek and Darla’s existence before they can get their bearings. However, the pace soon evens out as the story is effectively driven by strong female characters in the form of Darla, her mother Dolores, and Gretl. (In a particularly compelling side-plot, Gretl’s pregnancy makes Darla reconsider her own relationships and what she wants out of her life.) This might be a comedic story of monsters, but Darla’s issues will resonate with any adult woman trying to understand her own worth: “Darla was one of a kind. It may have taken a while for her to understand that, but that realization meant everything.”
An entertaining romance for readers with a taste for comedy and horror.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9781649377616
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.
With only a month left until the world ends due to a swiftly approaching black hole, Don and Rodney, a retired gay couple, road-trip from Maine to Washington to spend their final days with their son.
After reports that a planet-swallowing black hole is making its way toward Earth, Rodney and Don—who have been together for 40 years and survived everything from homophobia to the HIV crisis—decide to pack their belongings into an RV, say goodbye to their neighbors, and travel from Camden, Maine, to Washington to uphold a promise to spend their final days with their son. They can’t wait any longer, since there’s already chaos around the country: “Military vehicles in the streets of most cities and towns. Looting, rioting, the burning of cars and buildings and people, all of it had already happened.” As they make their way west across the country, they encounter fellow travelers ranging from close-knit families to free-spirited hippies, some of whom have come to terms with the impending end of the world and others who haven’t. While the story seems to be asking readers what they would do if they had 30 days left to live, and reflects on what different kinds of acceptance might look like in the face of unavoidable tragedy, it loses some of its poignancy in a series of thinly padded monologues about the meaning of life. Clearly intended to pack an emotional punch, it’s failed by an abrupt ending, and the way the journey’s mystery—which will be obvious to many readers—is revealed by an info dump in the last chapter.
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781250881236
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
Light on plot and heavy on bolstering traditional gender norms as the ultimate goal for both men and women.
A Seattle woman meets a Chicago businessman as she flies home from a visit to a friend, and her small act of kindness blossoms into more.
Maisy Gallagher is barely making ends meet. With her father’s unexpected death a few years earlier, she dropped out of nursing school to help out in the family’s jewelry store, working with her uncle. Her older brother, Sean, also moved back home so he and Maisy could help their mother and their 10-year-old brother, Patrick. When Maisy offers a ride to a rude businessman who sat next to her on the plane, she’s just operating on the kindness her grandmother instilled in her. That businessman, Chase Furst, turns out to be an incredibly wealthy banker; he’s flown into Seattle to make funeral arrangements for his mother, to whom he hasn’t spoken in years. Sparks fly in this gentle and predictable romance that leans heavily on long-distance and class-divide tropes. As with many of the author’s books, Christianity and the characters’ reliance on God’s will—as they wait and see what happens next—play a large part, as do traditional gender roles where women cook, clean, and only work in paying jobs until they have children at home to take care of. The author does offer a lighter touch when it comes to the painful ways alcoholism can destroy family relationships, with an understanding of the regret that can weigh on every family member.
Light on plot and heavy on bolstering traditional gender norms as the ultimate goal for both men and women.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9798217091676
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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