A sexy and satisfying read from beginning to end.
A spirited Chicagoan enlists a tech superstar to protect her from scandal in this romance.
Tess Greene has everything: a successful career in “disaster recovery” at a tech firm; close friendships with her younger sister, Kat, and vivacious older neighbor Roz; and a fulfilling sex life of brief flings with handsome men. But soon life gets complicated: Kat announces she’s moving to San Francisco in a matter of weeks. Tess’ beloved boss, Paul, is retiring, and she is in line for a promotion, but only if she can land an especially challenging prospective client for the firm. Worst of all, an anonymous man with a website full of amateur sex tapes is teasing out his next big release—which happens to feature Tess. Unashamed of the video she consensually made but unsure of her one-night stand’s identity and aware of the major humiliation she could endure, Tess finds Max, a friend of her quirky employee Abigail and a qualified hacker—and extremely attractive. He’ll help her make sure the video never sees the light of day on one condition: She help him land the open senior programmer position at her firm. As Tess and Max grow closer, she must face her past—a traumatic adolescence with a struggling single parent and her former engagement, mysteriously broken the morning of her wedding—and decide whether Max can be a part of her (hopefully sex tape–free) future. Dayton crafts a terrific hero: Tess is both independent and vulnerable, unapologetically work-driven and sex-positive, with a lot of love to give. Max has a rich backstory of his own, involving an ex-fiancee–turned–platonic pal, a Robin Hood–esque deed that wreaked havoc on his professional reputation, and a desire to connect with Tess that results in sweet romantic gestures and genuine devotion as she gradually lets her guard down. Each member of the protagonist’s personal network of supportive women—not only Abigail and Kat, but also Tess’ mother and the hero’s favorite local bartender—is memorable in her own right.
A sexy and satisfying read from beginning to end.Pub Date: May 20, 2021
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 245
Publisher: Tule Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A vibrant tale of a remarkable woman.
Who was Shakespeare?
Move over, Earl of Oxford and Francis Bacon: There’s another contender for the true author of plays attributed to the bard of Stratford—Emilia Bassano, a clever, outspoken, educated woman who takes center stage in Picoult’s spirited novel. Of Italian heritage, from a family of court musicians, Emilia was a hidden Jew and the courtesan of a much older nobleman who vetted plays to be performed for Queen Elizabeth. She was well traveled—unlike Shakespeare, she visited Italy and Denmark, where, Picoult imagines, she may have met Rosencrantz and Guildenstern—and was familiar with court intrigue and English law. “Every gap in Shakespeare’s life or knowledge that has had to be explained away by scholars, she somehow fills,” Picoult writes. Encouraged by her lover, Emilia wrote plays and poetry, but 16th-century England was not ready for a female writer. Picoult interweaves Emilia’s story with that of her descendant Melina Green, an aspiring playwright, who encounters the same sexist barriers to making herself heard that Emilia faced. In alternating chapters, Picoult follows Melina’s frustrated efforts to get a play produced—a play about Emilia, who Melina is certain sold her work to Shakespeare. Melina’s play, By Any Other Name, “wasn’t meant to be a fiction; it was meant to be the resurrection of an erasure.” Picoult creates a richly detailed portrait of daily life in Elizabethan England, from sumptuous castles to seedy hovels. Melina’s story is less vivid: Where Emilia found support from the witty Christopher Marlowe, Melina has a fashion-loving gay roommate; where Emilia faces the ravages of repeated outbreaks of plague, for Melina, Covid-19 occurs largely offstage; where Emilia has a passionate affair with the adoring Earl of Southampton, Melina’s lover is an awkward New York Times theater critic. It’s Emilia’s story, and Picoult lovingly brings her to life.
A vibrant tale of a remarkable woman.Pub Date: Aug. 20, 2024
ISBN: 9780593497210
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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