Two good people find love in this emotional, slow-burn romance.
A social media influencer asks a firefighter to pretend to be her boyfriend during a stressful family vacation in Key West.
Sara Vance is panicked. She arrived in Florida for a weeklong family vacation only to be stood up by the man she’d been casually dating. Her mother is in recovery from a recent bout with cancer, and this vacation was supposed to help knit her fractured family closer together. Sara is the youngest sibling and an underachiever—her parents and both siblings are high-powered doctors—and Sara worries that being dumped will either make her the butt of the family’s jokes or cause her mom to worry. Enter kind, handsome Key West firefighter Luis Navarro. Luis has an unplanned week of vacation; his captain insisted he take time off to get his emotional bearings after handling a particularly gruesome car accident. After meeting a distressed Sara when she arrives in Key West, he agrees to play the part of her boyfriend—anything to avoid his own feelings and family dramas. The story’s opening is tight and compelling, but the middle section drifts by without much conflict, just Sara and Luis ruminating about past mistakes and marveling at how easy it is to be together. The Key West setting is lovingly portrayed, showing how local families struggle with the rising costs of living on an island paradise. Also notable: Sara is in recovery from an eating disorder she developed in college, and the book carefully portrays her determination to implement her therapist’s advice and avoid triggers, all while refusing to succumb to her family’s overbearing concern. Oliveras has a gift for showcasing how new lovers navigate introducing romantic partners to their families. Eventually, the plot snaps together and Luis and Sara realize they are stronger together than apart.
Two good people find love in this emotional, slow-burn romance.Pub Date: April 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4201-5017-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Zebra/Kensington
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
Haphazard and undemanding.
A sports agent’s first official client is the man she dumped years ago in college.
After two years of hard work as an underling, Nora Mackenzie is finally being promoted to full-time sports agent. She’s worked hard, kept quiet, and allowed men in the office to call her Mac—a nickname she hates—all to show she’s a team player and “one of the guys.” Unfortunately, her boss instructs her to sign Derek Pender, a football player coming off an injury, who happens to be the man she heartlessly dumped in their senior year of college. Derek signs with her for revenge, seeing it as his opportunity to pay Nora back for callously breaking his heart eight years earlier. He insists she be at his beck and call: answering his emails, running his errands, cooking dinner for his dates. He also refuses to let her explain why she broke up with him without warning or explanation. Nora feels she has no choice but to acquiesce to Derek’s humiliating demands, since she’s worked too hard to let him ruin her dream job. She hopes he’ll thaw and they might become friends, but Derek’s bad behavior is designed to hide the fact that he’s still in love with her. Nora’s characterization is uneven, veering between anger at how she’s treated in the male-dominated field to immature bickering and bantering with Derek. Although Adams likely meant for Derek and Nora’s interactions to have an enemies-to-lovers vibe, the characters instead seem juvenile and stuck in the past. The novel is fueled by a string of tropes—second chance romance! married in Vegas! only one bed!—each randomly deployed to keep the book going despite thin characterization and wan plotting.
Haphazard and undemanding.Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780593723678
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dell
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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
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