The players’ rivalry feels too strong to blend into a cohesive romance.
A serendipitous doubles match brings two tennis rivals closer together.
Tennis prodigy Inés Costa is looking for a comeback after an injury sidelined her. Chloe Murphy is the hot new name in tennis, but her tantrums on the court often result in salacious headlines. Inés and Chloe have faced each other on the court before; Inés still carries the losses with her. But what the public doesn’t know is that they also share an off-court connection: a scandalous kiss that neither can seem to forget. When they’re paired for a doubles match during a charity event, Inés and Chloe begin to soften, establishing a mutually beneficial relationship. Chloe will help Inés on her road back to the U.S. Open and Inés will work with Chloe on approaching her matches with a more level head. This is a rivals-to-lovers story with high stakes; careers and international public opinion are on the line. The cast, at times, is confusingly large, tying in characters and events from Jones’ previous tennis romances. Chloe is a talented player, but her actions on the court are often aggressive, mean, and arrogant. She yells at officials, breaks rackets, and gives pompous sound bites about her opponents to the media. Her redemption arc feels too sudden, as if she’s only making amends because she’s suddenly in forced proximity with people she’s offended and wants to smooth things over rather than because she’s reckoned with her behavior or is facing real consequences. Inés has a massive chip on her shoulder. Her dislike for Chloe is mostly reasonable, though it often emerges in cruel and punishing behavior. These hard edges are softened through their romance, but they pose a large hurdle to push past at the start.
Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9780063430075
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 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
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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