A collection of enjoyable stories from an author with an engaging voice.
Nine short stories that hinge on transformative moments.
In “Writing Class,” one of the tales in Cantwell’s (The Tollan Trilogy, 2012, etc.) latest collection, a professor teaching a writing course at Columbia University confesses to his class that they’ll likely never strike it rich as bestselling authors but quickly tells them of his belief “that writing literature, like other creative endeavors, can bring a kind of redemption to writers as well as readers.” Redemption, desperately sought and often movingly achieved, drives many of these stories. In the collection’s title story, the protagonist, Peter, seeks to help a young girl he meets in Antigua; in “True Love,” a man learns of his ex-wife’s sudden death and reflects back on their tempestuous past; and in the O. Henry–esque “Christmas in the Great Depression,” a stubbornly optimistic young boy yearns for—and then campaigns for—a bicycle his family can’t afford. Cantwell’s outlook is optimistic but resolutely unsentimental; his characters never pull their punches, either with each other or themselves. The collection features some lovely turns of phrase (“The air was pungent with the scent of asphodel and wild rhododendron. Early evening crickets sang them on their way. Olive trees arcaded the stairs”), but the theme of transformation is the real heart of these stories—the ways that people can change each other, frequently without intending to do so. There are also no outright villains, even when characters resort to violence, and most stories contain a steady undercurrent of winking humor. Several tales are openly nostalgic (such as “Golden Gloves,” a winsome story about a 1939 boys boxing match in East Detroit), and all are filled with believable dialogue and well-drawn, if simple, characters. The humanity of these stories lies in the belief that salvation is always possible and that there are no truly lost causes.
A collection of enjoyable stories from an author with an engaging voice.Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2013
ISBN: 978-1491704257
Page Count: 138
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A surprisingly sensual sports romance.
A collegiate diver and swimmer secretly pursue kink together, and risk falling in love along the way.
Scarlett Vandermeer is struggling. Despite a successful recovery from the injury that almost ended her Stanford diving career, she hasn’t been able to get her head together, and it’s affecting her performance. Plus, she’s trying to stay focused on getting into medical school. A relationship would be out of the question. By comparison, Lukas Blomqvist is a swimming idol, a record-breaker who wins medals as easily as breathing, and Scarlett has long been convinced he would never look in her direction—until one fateful night when a mutual friend lets slip that they have something unexpected in common: Scarlett likes to be submissive in the bedroom, while Lukas prefers to take a dominant approach. Now, they both know a big secret about each other, and it’s something neither of them can stop thinking about. It’s Lukas who suggests they have a fling—purely physical, just to take the edge off, so Scarlett can get out of her own head and stop overthinking her dives. Initially, their arrangement is easy to stick to, but the more time they spend together, the more Scarlett starts to realize that what she feels for Lukas is more than physical attraction. Complicating the situation is the fact that Scarlett’s friend Penelope Ross used to go out with Lukas, and the longer Scarlett keeps mum about her true feelings for him, the more difficult it is to keep the situation hidden from another person she really cares about. While Scarlett and Lukas’ relationship does begin as a physical one, their deeper psychological connection takes a little too long to emerge amid all the other storylines, resulting in a somewhat rushed resolution. However, Hazelwood’s latest is proof of the depth and maturity that has emerged in her writing over the years, and it highlights her embrace of sexier, more emotional elements than were present in her original STEMinist rom-coms.
A surprisingly sensual sports romance.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593641057
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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