A moving romance that balances the heartbreak of slowly losing a relative to Alzheimer’s with the thrill of falling in love.
A podcaster finds herself stuck in a fake-dating scheme to please her ailing grandmother.
There’s no one Elle Monroe cares about more than her grandmother, Lovie. So, when Lovie’s Alzheimer’s worsens, Elle leaves her life in Chicago and her successful podcast behind to head back to her childhood home in Elkhart, Indiana. Elle doesn’t expect to find a man in the house—and certainly not in her old bed—but Adam Wheeler is Lovie’s new live-in nurse. Elle’s annoyance at finding a stranger in her room is dwarfed by her hurt that Lovie no longer remembers her. The disease makes Lovie cranky, mean, and sometimes even violent. Strangest of all, she’s convinced that Elle is actually a younger version of herself, while Adam is Bobby, her beloved late husband. Afraid to upset Lovie’s fragile state of mind, Elle and Adam pretend that they’re deeply in love, despite the fact that they initially can’t stand each other. What starts out as mutual dislike, however, quickly turns to attraction, which presents a problem because Elle plans to move back to Chicago as soon as Lovie has a new living situation lined up. In her debut, Murphy poignantly highlights the pain of caring for a relative with Alzheimer’s. Lovie’s struggle with the disease feels real in its specificity (such as her insistence that every day is Monday and her need to garden daily, even in the dead of winter). Elle and Adam have so much chemistry off the bat that it’s sometimes difficult to understand why they’re resisting a relationship; still, they’re both such likable characters that it’s fun to watch them realize what the reader has known all along.
A moving romance that balances the heartbreak of slowly losing a relative to Alzheimer’s with the thrill of falling in love.Pub Date: March 18, 2025
ISBN: 9798892420648
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Alcove Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
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
A deep and moving portrayal of first love.
Two college students rekindle their relationship as they unravel the truth behind their breakup.
On the outside, college senior Bennett Reiner has it all. A goalie for Waterfell University’s hockey team, he lives with a group of friends in a luxurious off-campus house. He and his best friend, Rhys Koteskiy, have fathers who are retired hockey legends. But on the inside, he’s falling apart. Struggling with OCD, a shaky friendship with Rhys, and second thoughts about pursuing a future in hockey, the only thing keeping Bennett afloat is also the one thing breaking his heart: Paloma Blake. All dyed-hair and attitude, Paloma has built a bad reputation on the hockey scene since their relationship ended freshman year—but Bennett knows the real P. Underneath her promiscuous facade lies a scared and lonely girl running from a childhood of abuse. When they were together, it seemed like their romance was perfect, until Paloma broke it off without warning. Since then, Bennett has run to Paloma’s side whenever she needed him, whether she was drunk, lonely, or hurting, and now he’s determined to win her back. For Bennett, Paloma is his antidote, the cure for his compulsions; for Paloma, Bennett is her protector, her safe space. And though Paloma yearns to be with Bennett again, she’s not sure she’s willing to open old wounds and reveal the truth about her painful past. In the third installment of the Undone series, Corinne spotlights familiar characters as they navigate trauma, heartbreak, and first love. Bennett and Paloma’s relationship is raw and vulnerable, and their journey of relinquishing control is both necessary and inevitable. Their romance evolves as they open up to one another, and in return, the reader is rewarded with a love story that’s as lyrical, evocative, and emotional as poetry.
A deep and moving portrayal of first love.Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9781668219423
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
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