An entertaining and uncomplicated tale of two young lovers.
Two successful young people meet on a flight from North America to India and stumble down a star-crossed path to love in Hudson-Maggio’s contemporary romance.
Indian Tej Mayur and Indian American Harlow Kennedy are both caught up in their fast-paced lifestyles. Tej is the extremely successful owner of the restaurant Bombay Baby in Atlanta, and Harlow works in Toronto, managing coding and app-creation projects around the world. Both are also eligible marriage material, which means that there’s intense pressure from family members for each of them to get hitched soon. Tej fends off sultry women who are only after his fortune, while Harlow receives an unwanted proposal from an unappealing bachelor. Then Tej and Harlow serendipitously meet when Harlow is assigned to cover a Bombay Baby project for her work. The two are instantly attracted to each other, but there’s much that stands in the way of their getting together, including issues involving ego, family, and multiple engagements. However, a matchmaker whom Harlow consults notes her belief that “the universe revolves according to the laws of karma,” and when Tej’s family mandates that he wed a woman who was chosen for him within a matter of days, he has to decide whether or not he will play with his fate and test his own karma. Overall, readers will find this to be a gratifying and heartwarming story, featuring two characters that they will be likely to find endearing, despite their flaws. Each chapter alternates between the two main players’ perspectives as they grapple with their futures; this format results in a delightful and easygoing read that some will find to be reminiscent of Indian romance films. The story does lack a certain complexity, and some readers may find it a bit too lightweight, but its inclusion of customs of Indian marriage and wedding culture effectively bring it to life.
An entertaining and uncomplicated tale of two young lovers.Pub Date: July 1, 2022
ISBN: 979-8886806854
Page Count: 388
Publisher: Paper House
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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