Beautiful and worth staying up late to finish.
A history-loving heroine saves her first love from a downward spiral in this emotional contemporary romance.
Jessica Creswell first meets Callen Hayes when she is 11 and he is 12. Lost and trying to find her way home, she finds Callen hiding in an old train car with noticeable bruises on his face. From then on, they become fast friends, meeting in secret. But after Callen gives Jessica her first kiss, he disappears from her life. A decade later, Callen is an award-winning composer, though he feels that his success is waning. Instead, he’s drowning himself in women, alcohol, and various other vices. Jessica and Callen’s reunion in Paris is disappointing, considering he’s drunk and doesn’t recognize her. Whatever Jessica had hoped would happen between them is written off as a lost cause. The third time’s the charm, though, when Jessica and Callen meet in France’s Loire Valley. Jessica is there for work, while Callen is hoping some relaxation will kick-start his creativity when it comes to new compositions. Callen isn’t the boy Jessica remembers, but she’s determined to help him conquer his demons like she did when they were kids. The tension between Callen and Jessica stems from what could have been, and it builds into a delicious will-they-won’t-they romance. Jessica has a love of French history and Callen is obsessed with music; it’s a treat watching each character nerd out over their interests. Sheridan (Archer’s Voice, 2018, etc.) accomplishes a feat with the realistic issues plaguing the characters: Callen harbors trauma from being physically and verbally abused by his father, while Jessica’s relationship with her dad is strained due to his constant infidelity to her late mother. Feeling much like a modern fairy tale, the well-crafted romance and beautiful French setting will take readers by surprise, with each page hitting the perfect note. Sheridan is one to watch.
Beautiful and worth staying up late to finish.Pub Date: June 12, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5387-2739-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.
A promise to his best friend leads an Army serviceman to a family in need and a chance at true love in this novel.
Beckett Gentry is surprised when his Army buddy Ryan MacKenzie gives him a letter from Ryan’s sister, Ella. Abandoned by his mother, Beckett grew up in a series of foster homes. He is wary of attachments until he reads Ella’s letter. A single mother, Ella lives with her twins, Maisie and Colt, at Solitude, the resort she operates in Telluride, Colorado. They begin a correspondence, although Beckett can only identify himself by his call sign, Chaos. After Ryan’s death during a mission, Beckett travels to Telluride as his friend had requested. He bonds with the twins while falling deeply in love with Ella. Reluctant to reveal details of Ryan’s death and risk causing her pain, Beckett declines to disclose to Ella that he is Chaos. Maisie needs treatment for neuroblastoma, and Beckett formally adopts the twins as a sign of his commitment to support Ella and her children. He and Ella pursue a romance, but when an insurance investigator questions the adoption, Beckett is faced with revealing the truth about the letters and Ryan’s death, risking losing the family he loves. Yarros’ (Wilder, 2016, etc.) novel is a deeply felt and emotionally nuanced contemporary romance bolstered by well-drawn characters and strong, confident storytelling. Beckett and Ella are sympathetic protagonists whose past experiences leave them cautious when it comes to love. Beckett never knew the security of a stable home life. Ella impulsively married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended when he discovered she was pregnant. The author is especially adept at developing the characters through subtle but significant details, like Beckett’s aversion to swearing. Beckett and Ella’s romance unfolds slowly in chapters that alternate between their first-person viewpoints. The letters they exchanged are pivotal to their connection, and almost every chapter opens with one. Yarros’ writing is crisp and sharp, with passages that are poetic without being florid. For example, in a letter to Beckett, Ella writes of motherhood: “But I’m not the center of their universe. I’m more like their gravity.” While the love story is the book’s focus, the subplot involving Maisie’s illness is equally well-developed, and the link between Beckett and the twins is heartfelt and sincere.
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-533-3
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Jan. 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
You’ll need your own detective’s notebook to keep tabs on all the characters and connections on display here. Even so,...
A tenacious reporter won’t let personal ties to a decades-old case stop her from finding the truth.
On the advice of her agent, Savannah Sentinel reporter and author Nikki Gillette is looking for fodder for her latest true-crime novel when she realizes that the perfect subject is about to be released from prison. Savannah’s notorious Blondell O’Henry has been locked up for some 20 years for the murder of her oldest daughter and Nikki’s childhood friend, Amity. Now that Blondell’s son Niall has recanted the testimony that put her away all those years ago, it looks as if she’ll be a free woman unless Nikki’s fiance, Detective Pierce Reed, can find a reason to keep her detained. Pierce and Nikki both work to discover what happened years ago at that cabin in the woods, though Pierce bridles at Nikki’s rather unconventional—all right, illegal—research methods. It seems to Nikki that the more she investigates, the more connections she discovers to her own family, beginning with the fact that her Uncle Alex was the original defense attorney on the case. But all of these uncomfortable connections make Nikki still more determined to learn the truth, even if she doesn’t like what that may mean.
You’ll need your own detective’s notebook to keep tabs on all the characters and connections on display here. Even so, Jackson (You Don’t Want to Know, 2012, etc.) shows a mastery of the true-crime thriller formula that will please fans.Pub Date: June 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7582-5858-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013
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