A gleefully cynical riff on life, death, and second chances.
In Evanichko’s comic novel, a dying man’s life flashes before his eyes in the form of his final grocery store purchases.
It’s true that product tester Vincent Mariccio technically had 14 items in his basket when he went through a 10-items-or-less self-checkout lane, but does he really deserve to die over it? That’s what happens in 2010 when he walks out into a Columbus, Ohio-based supermarket’s parking lot and into the path of a motorist fleeing the police. As Vincent’s spirit floats above his mangled corpse, however, he sees something completely unexpected: the spirits of his scattered groceries starting to float up, as well: “All fourteen items rise and hover above the accident site like glowing fireflies,” he narrates with horror. “They approach me and begin circling, almost tauntingly.” Each item sparks a memory for Vincent, and none are pleasant. Shampoo reminds him of the time he invited his high school girlfriend over, hoping to lose his virginity, only for her to fool around with his sister instead. The pork chops call to mind when he cooked a special dinner for another girlfriend—a much more serious one—only to learn that she’d been cheating on him with her boss. Can these memories offer him any clarity on how his life became such a disappointment? And could the clues to a better life really be waiting among the floating images of groceries? His guardian angel—a man named Howard, whose death Vincent witnessed as a child—seems to think so: “This was meant to happen, and you need to figure things out,” he tells Vincent. It’s A Wonderful Life, this isn’t; many readers will find both present-day Vincent and his memories to be almost uniformly unpleasant. They’ll also be divided on whether Evanichko’s story earns its ending. That said, there are plenty of cringe-inducing laughs, shocks, and oddities scattered along the protagonist’s path for readers to encounter: One notable example is the recollection triggered by soy milk, which takes Vincent back to when he tried to eat healthy and exercise; this led to him having to be rescued from a sewer—in front of live television cameras.
A gleefully cynical riff on life, death, and second chances.Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2022
ISBN: 9798849009612
Page Count: 265
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Oct. 16, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A boarding-school fantasia, with Hilderbrand’s signature upgrades to the cuisine and decor. Sign us up for next term.
A year in the life of the No. 2 boarding school in America—up from No. 19 last year!
Rumors of Hilderbrand’s retirement were greatly exaggerated, it turns out, since not only has she not gone out to pasture, she’s started over in high school, with her daughter Shelby Cunningham as co-author. As their delicious new book opens, it’s Move-In Day at Tiffin Academy, and Head of School Audre Robinson is warmly welcoming the returning and new students to the New England campus, the latter group including a rare midstream addition to the junior class. Brainiac Charley Hicks is transferring from public school in Maryland to a spot that opened up when one of the school’s most beloved students died by suicide the preceding year. She will be joining a large, diverse cast of adult and teenage characters—queen bees, jealous second-stringers, boozehounds young and old, secret lesbians, people chasing the wrong people chasing other wrong people—all of them royally screwed when an app called Zip Zap appears and starts blasting everyone’s secrets all over campus. How the heck…? Meanwhile, it seems so unlikely that Tiffin has jumped up to the No. 2 spot in the boarding-school rankings that a high-profile magazine launches an investigation, and even the head is worried that there may have been payola involved. The school has a reputation for being more social than academic, and this quality gets an exciting new exclamation point when the resident millionaire bad boy opens a high-style secret speakeasy for select juniors in a forgotten basement. It’s called Priorities. Exactly. One problem: Cinnamon Peters’ mysterious suicide hangs over the book in an odd way, especially since the note she left for her closest male friend is not to be opened for another year—and isn’t. This is surely a setup for a sequel, but it’s a bit frustrating here, and bobs sort of shallowly along amid the general high spirits.
A boarding-school fantasia, with Hilderbrand’s signature upgrades to the cuisine and decor. Sign us up for next term.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9780316567855
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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