A promising start to a cheery new Victorian romance series.
A bookstore owner is swept into a new life by a duke.
Evie Harlow doesn’t have much, but she does still have her late father’s bookshop, after years of hard work to pay off his debts, and her dreams of romance with a childhood friend. Those dreams take a different turn when Maximillian Shaw, Duke of Westbourne, pops into her store on an errand for his cousin, with whom Evie helps plan elaborate dinner parties at the Savoy Hotel. That night, at the Savoy’s famous American Bar, when he hears some young fops disparaging her, he’s rather surprised and tells them she has “the potential to be an incomparable beauty,” then backs that assertion up with a drunken wager that he can introduce her to society and transform her into the belle of an upcoming ball. It isn’t until the next day, explaining his offer to Evie, that he realizes it might not sound quite as complimentary to her as he thought. But Evie, after a bookshop emergency, agrees it would be nice to have a short vacation staying in the Savoy, being taken to the opera, and given a whole new wardrobe. As her transformation begins, dance lessons and other circumstances bring her and Max closer, but early experiences with high society made her wary of it, and Max has his own reasons for keeping her at arm’s length. As the ball draws closer, though, they may not be able to resist at least one night together. Evie and Max develop a charming chemistry that starts slow and then ticks all the historical romance boxes without feeling clichéd. Guhrke’s slightly spicy new series, set against the Victorian backdrop of the opulent Savoy Hotel, is full of rich detail and side stories that will thrill historical romance lovers. Enjoy it with the newfangled drink that got the duke soused enough to bet on Evie: “something...called a ‘Manhattan.’ ”
A promising start to a cheery new Victorian romance series.Pub Date: June 20, 2023
ISBN: 9781538722626
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
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
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
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