An entertaining novel about second chances in life and love.
A recent divorcé limps back into the dating scene in Godin’s lighthearted novel.
Nick Jordan’s life is pretty together—at least on the surface. At 50, he’s kept himself youthful and in good shape. He runs a successful plastic surgery practice out of an antebellum mansion on New Orleans’ St. Charles Avenue, and he drives a BMW convertible. When his wife, Elizabeth, serves him divorce papers, however, Nick’s world quickly comes undone. Drowning his sorrows in bourbon and Percocet, he wakes up to realize he’s wrapped his BMW around a streetlight. Even more embarrassingly, he realizes that, in his drunken haze, he emailed a messy dating profile—which includes several embittered jabs against Elizabeth—to all 3,000 contacts in his address book. And a lot of them have emailed him back. “He was horrified to see that many of the emails were replete with commentary on his dating likes and dislikes, hopes and dreams. People actually thought he had sent it to them on purpose.” With his ego in tatters and his insecurities laid bare, Nick has no choice but to proceed into the chaotic world of dating post-divorce: a minefield of websites, matchmaking services, speed dating events, and awkward first dates. To make matters worse, his practice is starting to suffer for reasons Nick can’t quite pin down. Can he right the ship and end up in better shape than before, or is he destined to be depressed, lonely, and broke? Godin narrates Nick’s adventures in warm, observant prose that captures the indignities of dating in middle age: “What part do you think you played in the demise of your marriage?” one woman asks him minutes into their first date. “I’m sure you have some personal flaws that contributed to it. You need to figure those out, so you can avoid making the same mistakes again.” The book is a tad long at over 400 pages—particularly since Nick’s ultimate romantic interest is tipped so early on—but this gentle, breezy novel has much to offer.
An entertaining novel about second chances in life and love.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 9781662957437
Page Count: 429
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: April 22, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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