A slow-moving but poignant story about loss, unexpected connections, and the circuitous path toward healing.
A middle-aged man struggles to reconcile romantic feelings for a co-worker with the devotion he still feels to his late wife.
The story opens as Rudy Knowles relaxes in bed, chatting for the first 10 minutes of the morning with his wife, Bethany. He hasn’t yet realized that she died during the night. When he finally notices that Bethany is not breathing, Rudy mobilizes into action, attempting frantic CPR and calling an ambulance. Unfortunately, it's too late to revive Bethany, who had a heart attack. Following this harrowing scene, the story jumps forward by nearly a year. Rudy is working as a pianist in Nordstrom’s, a job that was intended as a temporary gig following a setback in his finance career, but the loss of his wife has left him too drained to make any professional movement. During his time at the store, he forms a friendship with Sasha, a woman from the watch department who has suffered losses of her own. Rudy is surprised to notice his interest in Sasha gradually turning romantic, and he grapples with the question of whether he is ready to date another woman. Just as he begins to pursue Sasha, a detective appears at the store looking for Rudy. Detective Jensen tells Rudy that Bethany’s death may have been murder, and suddenly, all the progress Rudy had made toward coping with her loss is shattered. Rudy’s thoughts and actions grow increasingly self-destructive, and his future becomes anything but certain. As he struggles with staggering sorrow, readers will wonder along with Rudy whether he can ever recover. Told in the third person, the narrative shifts periodically from Rudy to Sasha, bringing Sasha’s struggles to the foreground, as well. Through the tragedies each character has suffered, the author highlights the surprising and long-lasting ways in which grief can shock and debilitate its bearers. The story uses quiet prose and unexpected moments of gentle humor to illustrate the importance of human connection during trying times. This is a difficult and emotional tale in which grief becomes a character of its own.
A slow-moving but poignant story about loss, unexpected connections, and the circuitous path toward healing.Pub Date: March 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5011-7912-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 25, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
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