A wild, unpredictable ride anchored by a nuanced and deeply emotional love story.
A grieving woman and a successful rapper discover an unexpected and passionate connection in Nesha’s contemporary urban romance.
Marley’s world was shattered the day a gunman ambushed her and her boyfriend, Benny, killing Benny and their unborn child—a daughter she named Billie. Three years after the tragedy, Marley lives in a Chevrolet van that Benny had hoped to renovate and runs a tea business called Sippin’ Tea with her sister, Harper. Meanwhile, Czar is a phenomenally successful Detroit rapper who bears the scars of a deeply traumatic childhood. His father, Cain, was a pimp who abused him and his mother, Ada. Although Ada found happiness and stability after marrying Cain’s brother, Slim, the family fears what might happen once Cain is released from prison. Although Marley is unimpressed by Czar when they meet at a health fair, her nonchalant attitude interests him, and they strike up a friendship. As their relationship grows romantic, Czar finds himself in love for the first time and considers leaving behind his hedonistic lifestyle. Their future looks bright; however, when Cain threatens Czar’s family and Marley discovers a shocking truth about the day Benny and their daughter died, Czar and Marley wonder if their newfound love can survive. Nesha’s torrid romance is briskly paced and replete with well-developed characters and bold narrative swings. Marley and Czar are compelling protagonists who find a way to connect despite their difficult pasts and the pressures of Czar’s fame. What begins as an opposites-attract romance quickly becomes a suspenseful thriller as Marley’s and Czar’s pasts catch up with them. While the story is—to quote Harper—a “General Hospital soap opera,” Nesha’s narrative deftly navigates the twists and turns with aplomb and poignancy. (“Everyone kept telling her to give it time, but Marley lived in a world where time didn’t exist. Time hadn’t healed the hole in her heart, and it hadn’t made her forget.”)
A wild, unpredictable ride anchored by a nuanced and deeply emotional love story.Pub Date: March 10, 2026
ISBN: 9798347021833
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Podium Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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