A smart hockey romance that will leave readers swooning.
An Arizona-based romance author ventures to Montana to learn about hockey in Jenshak’s series-starter.
Promising 20-something vampire-romantasy author Ruby Madison has been stuck in a brutal slump ever since her ex-boyfriend stole her book idea and spun it into a bestseller. Her own latest release flopped, and she hasn’t sold anything since. Just as she’s starting to feel hopeless, an editor at a top publishing house expresses interest in an old baseball romance she’d written years ago. There’s a catch: They want her to rewrite it as a hockey-themed romance, and Ruby knows absolutely nothing about the sport. Luckily, her agent comes up with a plan: Ruby will travel from Arizona to Moonshot, Montana, where she’ll spend six weeks interviewing the famous—and ruggedly handsome—hockey player Nick Galaxy while staying in a cabin next to his house. What she doesn’t realize is that 31-year-old Nick’s well-meaning father has orchestrated the entire arrangement to play matchmaker for his son. Nick isn’t thrilled by the surprise houseguest, but Ruby’s contagious, chaotic enthusiasm eventually breaks through his guarded demeanor. As she embeds herself in his world—getting to know his teammates and his tween son, Aidan—she finds that Moonshot is beginning to feel like home. A looming question becomes unavoidable: What happens when she finishes the book, and she and Nick are 1,000 miles apart? Jenshak tells her tale from Ruby’s and Nick’s alternating first-person perspectives, and the characters’ chemistry is palpable. The novel manages to strike a balance between playful banter and emotional depth. Along the way, the author handles Nick’s health anxieties and Ruby’s imposter syndrome with care, and it’s heartwarming to watch them work through their insecurities as they fall for each other. Ruby’s relationship with Aidan is especially wholesome, adding warmth to the narrative without feeling forced. Jenshak’s novel combines the bookish charm of Emily Henry’s work with the sporty-romance appeal of Elle Kennedy’s. Readers will be eager to book a return trip to Moonshot.
A smart hockey romance that will leave readers swooning.Pub Date: March 31, 2026
ISBN: 9798347036578
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Podium Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 23, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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