An interracial attraction complicates an alluring romance in a book with a likable, grounded heroine.
A black woman falls for her white boss—and then finds her life in danger—in Zoe’s debut romantic thriller, set in the 1990s.
Nora Richards has worked her way up to her current position at Tillman and Associates, a marketing and public relations firm in an unnamed but apparently American city. The 27-year-old is the “relations coordinator,” a job that mostly consists of billing and collections. But Nora’s biggest obstacle is organizing old, handwritten paper files. She reports to Cheryl, supervisor of customer accounts, but is awaiting a new boss. After meeting and spending a flirtatious evening with Mr. Douglas, a handsome stranger, Nora learns that he is her new boss, Sherman. This is the first time that Nora, who is black, has been attracted to a white man like Sherman. Meanwhile, Nora gets a threatening phone call; a female voice demands she give up “that Johnson file.” She has no idea what that file is, though Cheryl, who suddenly and mysteriously took a job in Italy, had earlier requested it. The telephonic threat quickly escalates into a physical assault against Nora. While she’s subsequently determined to find that file, Nora resists her attraction to Sherman even if the feelings are unquestionably mutual. This novel is more romance than thriller, and the author devotes ample time to character development. Nora is a tenacious protagonist, diving into a heavy workload with gusto and few complaints. Her romance with Sherman is equally appealing and faces believable challenges, including people who object to the relationship or imply that Nora trades sex for better job prospects. Impressively, Zoe gives potency to a steamy scene and occasional violence in simple prose, sans coarse or explicit language. The story is nevertheless predictable on the thriller front, from where the Johnson file is to the identity of at least one person menacing Nora.
An interracial attraction complicates an alluring romance in a book with a likable, grounded heroine.Pub Date: Dec. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-72830-106-8
Page Count: 390
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A solid contemporary with a balance of humor and lasting emotional beats.
In this contemporary romance, two emergency room doctors, both recovering from messy breakups, form a close, comforting friendship and perhaps something more.
Dr. Briana Ortiz has enough on her plate. She’s in the midst of finalizing her divorce, and her brother’s on a deadline to find a kidney donor. Now she has to worry that the new doctor, Jacob Maddox, is there to nab her promotion to chief of emergency medicine. Admittedly, Jacob—who has social anxiety—doesn't make the best first impression on Bri, telling her off for bumping into him in the hall. To make amends, he writes her a letter to explain himself and apologize, and the tension between them softens as their letters to each other keep coming. Bri realizes Jacob isn’t there to undermine her, and Jacob gets to see Bri’s more vulnerable side. When Jacob offers to be Bri’s brother’s kidney donor and Bri agrees to be Jacob’s pretend girlfriend for a wedding, it's easy to wonder what kept these two apart in the first place. The answer: not much. Of course, the two are carrying some heavy baggage from prior relationships, but it seems like a minor obstacle when compared to the genuine connection Jacob and Bri share. This is a cute, slow-burn romance with plenty of funny moments and emotional challenges, though the focus seems to be on the leads finally realizing what’s been in front of them all along through grand and sometimes unnecessary machinations. Did this need a fake dating subplot? Or epistolary flirting? Not really, but Jimenez manages to pepper these adorable tropes throughout without making them feel too gimmicky.
A solid contemporary with a balance of humor and lasting emotional beats.Pub Date: April 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781538704394
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
A heartfelt look at taking second chances, in life and in love.
Two struggling authors spend the summer writing and falling in love in a quaint beach town.
January Andrews has just arrived in the small town of North Bear Shores with some serious baggage. Her father has been dead for a year, but she still hasn’t come to terms with what she found out at his funeral—he had been cheating on her mother for years. January plans to spend the summer cleaning out and selling the house her father and “That Woman” lived in together. But she’s also a down-on-her-luck author facing writer’s block, and she no longer believes in the happily-ever-after she’s made the benchmark of her work. Her steadily dwindling bank account, though, is a daily reminder that she must sell her next book, and fast. Serendipitously, she discovers that her new next-door neighbor is Augustus Everett, the darling of the literary fiction set and her former college rival/crush. Gus also happens to be struggling with his next book (and some serious trauma that unfolds throughout the novel). Though the two get off to a rocky start, they soon make a bet: Gus will try to write a romance novel, and January will attempt “bleak literary fiction.” They spend the summer teaching each other the art of their own genres—January takes Gus on a romantic outing to the local carnival; Gus takes January to the burned-down remains of a former cult—and they both process their own grief, loss, and trauma through this experiment. There are more than enough steamy scenes to sustain the slow-burn romance, and smart commentary on the placement and purpose of “women’s fiction” joins with crucial conversations about mental health to add multiple intriguing layers to the plot.
A heartfelt look at taking second chances, in life and in love.Pub Date: May 19, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0673-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Jove/Penguin
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
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