An engaging love story peppered with intrigue and insight.
A powerful and dynamic CEO meets her match in the dedicated scion of a wealthy business family.
The reputation of Rajneet Kaur Hothi’s New York–based business empire is threatened when her soon-to-be ex-husband pilfers privileged information from her client Bharat, Inc. Reeling from the betrayal and on the cusp of a major life change, Raj realizes that Bharat holds the key to the professional future she has newly envisioned for herself. In order to fix the damage done to her client and secure her own career goals, she is required to deal with Ajay Singh, the future CEO of Bharat. Ajay is intrigued and challenged by Raj while the seasoned businesswoman is surprised at Ajay’s ability to outmaneuver her. They give in to their mutual attraction, but Raj, who has defeated enormous odds on her path to success, finds it difficult to overcome the mental blocks keeping her from committing to a dynamic and rooted man. Meanwhile, Ajay must find it in himself to trust Raj while he takes on formidable and manipulative business rivals. The second installment in the Singh Family series, after The Takeover Effect (2019), picks up where its precursor stopped and hurriedly references crucial previous developments. The Singh family continues to be warm and endearing, providing a sweet foil to Ajay and Raj’s hot sexual chemistry. Several delicate questions about the place of tradition in South Asian identity are tangentially referenced but left unexplored. Instead, Sharma chooses to depict a warm and compelling (if idealized) portrait of interpersonal relationships in a wealthy Indian American family.
An engaging love story peppered with intrigue and insight.Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-285438-4
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
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
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