A light and frothy take on royal romance.
An American event planner deals with the public scrutiny that comes with dating an openly gay British prince.
Carter Ogden is almost 30 and his life isn’t what he thought it would be. He’s an “associate event architect” (a fancy name for “event planner”) in New York City, and he’s heartbroken over the vain actor who just dumped him. So he visits St. Patrick’s Cathedral (even though he’s Jewish) and sends up a sort-of prayer: He wants a big life. He wants purpose and love and the chance to make a difference in the world. His prayer is almost immediately answered in the form of Edgar, the Prince of Wales, who's doing a press conference (planned by Carter’s company, of course) at the United Nations for a charity devoted to providing clean drinking water to people who need it. But Prince Edgar isn’t just charitable—he’s also impossibly good-looking and openly gay. Carter both admires and hates him for being so perfect (or, as he puts it, “I seriously wanted to slap his photo or have sex with it”). As soon as Carter meets Prince Edgar, however, he realizes that he’s more than just a man who’s next in line to the throne—he’s also the guy of Carter’s dreams. They begin a whirlwind romance that’s full of public dates and even more public humiliations, such as Carter getting food poisoning on live TV. But their problems are larger than just an ill-timed bout of projectile vomiting. Carter isn’t sure if their relationship can withstand tabloid headlines, constant public opinions, and the fact that the queen doesn’t much care for their union. As the scrutiny intensifies and the obstacles mount, Carter wonders if he and Edgar are doomed—or if their royal romance is his happily-ever-after. Carter is a wickedly sharp and snarky narrator, throwing in pop-culture references and self-deprecating asides that make it a delight to be inside his head. Edgar, however, isn’t as easy to like. Because his relationship with Carter develops so quickly, it’s hard to understand his motivations or get invested in the men's love story. However, Rudnick (who, in addition to being a novelist, is a playwright and screenwriter) rounds out their world with a gaggle of wacky side characters who make it easy to coast along on the surface.
A light and frothy take on royal romance.Pub Date: May 25, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-09941-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
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BOOK TO SCREEN
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