A poignant and rewarding romance.
A woman looking to open her own bar seeks help from an unlikely ally.
Sheena Patrick’s father died when she was 18, leaving her to raise three younger sisters. She kept the family afloat for years by working as a waitress and bartender. Now 31, she’s an empty nester and is determined to make a life for herself. She dreams of opening a bar of her own with ax-throwing lanes. Denver King is head of one of the four powerful families keeping their small town of Pyrite Falls, Oregon, alive. Denver’s father was a criminal who swindled and terrorized people in their community and manipulated his own children. After his father’s death, Denver dedicated himself to righting his father’s wrongs by financially supporting his victims, including Sheena and her sisters. Now Sheena approaches Denver with a deal: She’ll give him a share of the profits from her bar in exchange for help with the startup costs. Denver offers her the use of a building on his ranch, arguing that it will lower the overall opening costs as well as being a boon for their town as the four families try to make it a tourist destination. Sheena accepts the offer, and as they work together to rehab the building, they find themselves in close contact. Sheena and Denver had adult fears and responsibilities thrust on them at a young age, and as a result developed similar defensive strategies. Both of them are prickly and emotionally closed off, but neither can deny their growing attraction. Rather than the easy layup of “opposites attract,” the novel shows two very similar people learning to trust each other as lovers and equals—a romance rarity that Yates makes look effortless. Despite their bitter and heartbreaking early adult years, Sheena and Denver’s affair teaches them both that they, too, are deserving of love.
A poignant and rewarding romance.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781335652911
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Canary Street Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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
Two hot people confronting their trauma, making passionate love, and solving violent crimes! ’Nuff said.
A heartbroken man lusts after his therapist while seeking revenge on a drug kingpin and his enforcer.
Mitch Haskell’s wife, Angela, died two years ago of an apparent suicide, but Mitch has always believed the scene was staged. Certainly, she would never have willingly left their young son, Andrew, behind. Consumed with a thirst for vengeance, Mitch—a former Marine and undercover agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration and currently a police detective—is struggling with alcohol dependency and uncontrolled rage. Andrew is living with his in-laws, who are making not-so-subtle suggestions that they might apply for permanent guardianship if Mitch can’t get it together. So his boss and best friend, John Bowie, mandates that he go into therapy, which puts him in the path of sexy Dr. Dylan Reede. Within a few days, Mitch makes a connection between two new murders and the death of his former partner; finds a big clue that points to the truth about Angela’s death; goes undercover as a homeless man; takes on a vicious drug cartel; and obnoxiously bullies Dylan with a charm offensive that leads them inevitably to bed. While Mitch seems to lean into the stereotype of the ex-soldier/cop with deeply buried trauma who believes that the ends justify the means—at least in law enforcement—Dylan offers the strength and sweetness to help him start breaking down his walls, allowing herself to be vulnerable in turn. Is passionate sex enough to ground a relationship and a family for the long term? For these characters, and the breakneck speed of this thriller, it’s as good a foundation as any.
Two hot people confronting their trauma, making passionate love, and solving violent crimes! ’Nuff said.Pub Date: March 17, 2026
ISBN: 9781538743027
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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