A Victorian romance that will thrill readers who love to see a second chance.
A notorious spinster gets lucky, but not the way she expects.
Lady Kay Matheson is finally getting married. After two false starts, and many years as the subject of the gossip columns, she’s found a man who seems likely to make it all the way down the aisle with her: Wilson Rycroft, one of America’s richest men. She’s not in love with him, but he seems kind, and he has enough money to pay off her family’s growing pile of unpaid bills and allow her younger sister the debut she deserves. With the wedding only 10 weeks away, Kay goes to the florist at the Savoy hotel, but when she turns the corner to look for a gardenia, she’s shocked to see Devlin Sharpe, her first fiancé, now back in England after 14 years abroad. He’s also shopping for wedding flowers, and though they still loathe each other because of the way their engagement ended, they manage to be cordial. And because the London season is too small for them to avoid each other, their paths continue to cross, each time reminding them of the reasons that they wanted to elope in the first place, all those years ago—especially as they each start to see another side of their respective fiancés. But it’s not until they finally kiss, and see their lives change instantly as a result, that they have to confront the slow burn that’s been building back up between them. In the third installment of the Scandal at the Savoy series, the famous hotel once again plays a pivotal role in the story, and readers will be pleased to see the return of characters they’ve met in earlier volumes. Like the first two books, it’s a pleasure to read, with enjoyable characters, fun dialogue, and engaging historical detail. And, though it takes most of the book for Kay and Devlin to fully connect, once they do the spice level escalates quickly, leading to a slightly abrupt conclusion that is nonetheless satisfying, given all that the lovers have gone through to get there.
A Victorian romance that will thrill readers who love to see a second chance.Pub Date: July 29, 2025
ISBN: 9781538722664
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
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
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.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
