Compelling, warmly satisfying romantic fiction from a writer—and a series—you’ll want to revisit.
A decade after they shared an unexplored attraction, bartender Kyra Dixon and billionaire Will Chase meet again in Manhattan, leading to a relationship hampered by a clash of cultures.
Kyra had a crush on Will in college, when they’d been friends-only with potential for more. Then she’d had to leave school due to her father’s declining health and was crippled financially when her mother racked up debts in her name. She’s slowly paying everything off thanks to a bartending job at an exclusive Manhattan club and a position at a program for at-risk kids that offers an apartment as compensation. Running into Will at her favorite quick-serve cafe and discovering that he owns the billion-dollar company stuns her. “He’d always been out of her league, but she didn’t expect him to be that successful.” Turns out Will had snubbed his parents’ plans for him to join the blue-blood family law firm and started a restaurant chain, to phenomenal success. Kyra and Will enter into a relationship that begins at his family’s enormous annual spring get-together, where she faces polite contempt from his mother, and they finally act on their mutual attraction. However, while the relationship moves quickly and Kyra and Will are soon spending nearly all their free time together, it also brings up deep-seated insecurities for both of them, especially when their social and professional obligations spill over. Herkness’ plot may sound very billionaire-meets-Cinderella familiar, but her layered storytelling, elegant writing, and deep sensitivity to a varied cast of characters raises this lovely book beyond genre and trope, aided by the star role the after-school program takes in everyone’s resolutions.
Compelling, warmly satisfying romantic fiction from a writer—and a series—you’ll want to revisit.Pub Date: July 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5039-0214-5
Page Count: 332
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
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