A fresh rom-com with small-town charm and sparkling main characters.
In the second installment of Liasson’s Blossom Glen series, a bighearted therapist and a reluctant mayor clash and then fall in love.
Juliet Montgomery and Jack Monroe are “fixers” by temperament and reputation. Juliet has started a marriage and family therapy practice after years of study inspired by a bout with serious depression as a teenager following her father’s death. The only problem is, her fellow townspeople of Blossom Glen, Indiana, are aware of Juliet’s multiple broken engagements and are reluctant to accept relationship counseling from her. Meanwhile, Texas transplant Jack has successfully become Blossom Glen’s mayor, leaving behind his dreams of a career as an architect in order to help the beloved grandmother who raised him. However, Jack’s people skills are severely lacking. When a suddenly underemployed Juliet stumbles into a town meeting and helps Jack resolve several conflicts among Blossom Glen’s quirky and spirited residents, Jack decides to employ her as a temporary “town counselor” while he tries to save his grandmother’s land from the Omnibuild corporation. Soon, a coworking relationship becomes much more, but Juliet has resolved to curb her emotional spontaneity and Jack is wary of getting serious owing to trust issues stemming from his mother’s abandonment and his father’s unreliability. Can Juliet and Jack make it work and help preserve Blossom Glen? This series entry is a quintessential small-town romance that provides gentle humor and strong character development in abundance. Both Juliet and Jack are intelligent, accomplished, and deeply sympathetic to their friends’ and loved ones’ needs; in Juliet’s case, those loved ones include her sisters Tessa (the pastry chef protagonist of 2022’s The Sweetheart Deal, now happily married and pregnant) and Vivienne, who’s newly returned from Europe and working at a Christmas store while figuring out her life. The novel’s heat level doesn’t rise above kissing, but the chemistry between Juliet and Jack is palpable, whether they’re butting heads over town politics or eating ice cream on a dock. Juliet is also appealingly devoted to guiding others through mental health issues.
A fresh rom-com with small-town charm and sparkling main characters.Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64937-142-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This slow, sweet romance explores the boundary between privacy and publicity.
A stylist is hired to work with an up-and-coming actor she knew in high school.
Marley Kamal works as a consultant at a high-end Toronto department store. Her dream job is to become a personal shopper, a more prestigious position with access to exclusive clients. When Marley is called into her boss’ office and told she must sign a nondisclosure agreement, she realizes she’s landed her first celebrity. Marley is shocked to discover the client is none other than Nikhil Shamdasani, a high school friend who took her to prom and ghosted her after they had sex. Nikhil has been cast as a superhero, but the studio doesn’t seem to fully back him. He suspects they’re waiting to see if white fans will balk at a Desi actor being cast in the role, and his awkward press conferences and strange personal style aren’t helping his cause. After disastrous results with other stylists, he insists the studio hire Marley, remembering her as unflappable and calmly competent. Marley decides to capitalize on this opportunity, even though it’s happening at the absolute worst time. In two weeks, she’ll be having a double mastectomy as a preventative measure, since she’s a carrier of the BRCA gene. The studio wants Marley to keep styling Nikhil, but she’s kept the details of her surgery private. The old friends strike a deal: Nikhil will move in and help Marley with her recovery and she can style him from home. As always, Heron’s characters are lovingly drawn and richly layered. Marley and Nikhil learn to care for each other, sharing their sadness over familial struggles and their worries about the future—her health and his career. The novel explores whether the sweet, gentle romance they create while alone together can withstand the pressure and media speculation of the real world.
This slow, sweet romance explores the boundary between privacy and publicity.Pub Date: July 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781538725474
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
A fun and effervescent, if uneven, debut.
In this debut queer romance, a musician must convince an old high school friend, now an actual movie star, to perform at his father's retirement concert.
Quito Cruz and Emmett Aoki seemed like opposites in high school. Emmett was a popular athlete, already modeling underwear for Macy's ads. Quito was the son of Sunvalley High School's choir teacher, and while he was gifted with music, his sexuality made him a target for bullies. When Emmett joined the choir after dropping out of woodshop, both Quito and his father saw a diamond in the rough. With a less-than-subtle nudge, Mr. Cruz convinced Quito to tutor Emmett in singing, leading to a tentative friendship and a secret relationship between the boys. Now, as adults, they haven't spoken in decades. Quito plays at a Manhattan piano bar and dreams of producing his own Broadway show. Emmett is a famous action star, starring in a spy thriller on Apple TV. When Quito's father decides to retire, he tells Quito he's announced plans to host a retirement fundraising concert and has already promised attendees that Emmett will be performing. It's clear to Quito that his father has vastly overstated the two men's current relationship, but, unwilling to disappoint his dad, he decides to try to reunite with Emmett. With Quito narrating, the book is split between “Then” and “Now” chapters, juxtaposing awkward and sometimes painful high school moments with Quito’s current life, in which he's very much stuck both professionally and romantically. He also has trouble saying no to people, which frequently leads him to overpromise things at the expense of his own emotional well-being. While the romance between Quito and Emmett is sizzling and sweet, it takes a back seat to Quito’s journey of self-fulfillment, and there’s a disjointedness to the book as Lim piles on the romance tropes without pause. The romance and Quito’s own personal journey are both compelling, but they could have used more breathing room. There’s a lot of promise in Lim’s debut, though, with its dual-timeline storytelling, charming cast, and love of show tunes.
A fun and effervescent, if uneven, debut.Pub Date: June 6, 2023
ISBN: 9781538725382
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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