An uneven but ultimately satisfying story about regret, race, and redemption.
A washed-up country singer returns to his hometown, where he’s forced to confront his first love, who also secretly wrote his biggest hit.
Luke Randall, a Black country singer, can’t face most of the people in his life. What began as a promising career has devolved into a weekly gig in a dive bar, where people come just to hear him play the one hit he’s known for, and he can’t stand it. When he’s approached by the agent of his musical idol, legendary Black country singer Jojo Lane, and invited to perform with her at an upcoming festival, he can’t afford to say no. Unfortunately, the event requires him to return to his hometown in the Arkansas Delta, where he must confront Jojo’s daughter, August, the first girl he ever loved. She’s also the one who wrote the lyrics to the song that made him famous, but he never credited her. It’s no surprise she hates him now. Luke is finally ready to return to make things right. Back in town, he’s determined to tell August truths he never shared, but she doesn’t want to hear it. Meanwhile, he’s also trying to repair his relationship with the brother he’s been estranged from for years and to forgive the mother who got everything wrong. Whether any of these wounds can be healed is unclear. The book follows Luke in a close third-person narrative, shifting periodically to August’s perspective and also alternating between two timelines: 2009, when they were in high school, and the present day in 2023. With an emotional plot that touches on childhood trauma, domestic abuse, alcoholism, and neglect, the novel also explores issues of race in country music. Luke is a frustrating protagonist, wavering between self-pity and passivity while slowly trying to earn his redemption. August fares better, but her motivations feel underexplored, especially given the emotional weight she carries. Still, there are moments of real tenderness and hard truth, particularly when the novel examines the country music industry’s treatment of Black artists. Finally, while the story’s trajectory is fairly predictable, the final chapters deliver an emotionally impactful payoff, if the reader is patient enough to get there.
An uneven but ultimately satisfying story about regret, race, and redemption.Pub Date: July 29, 2025
ISBN: 9781538767528
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.
A love story about a life of second chances.
In Nassau, in the Bahamas, casino detective Vincent LaPorta grills Alfie Logan, who’d come up a winner three times in a row at the roulette table and walked away with $2 million. “How did you do it?” asks the detective. Alfie calmly denies cheating. You wired all the money to a Gianna Rule, LaPorta says. Why? To explain, Alfie produces a composition book with the words “For the Boss, to Be Read Upon My Death” written on the cover. Read this for answers, Alfie suggests, calling it a love story. His mother had passed along to him a strange trait: He can say “Twice!” and go back to a specific time and place to have a do-over. But it only works once for any particular moment, and then he must live with the new consequences. He can only do this for himself and can’t prevent anyone from dying. Alfie regularly uses his power—failing to impress a girl the first time, he finds out more about her, goes back in time, and presto! She likes him. The premise is of course not credible—LaPorta doesn’t buy it either—but it’s intriguing. Most people would probably love to go back and unsay something. The story’s focus is on Alfie’s love for Gianna and whether it’s requited, unrequited, or both. In any case, he’s obsessed with her. He’s a good man, though, an intelligent person with ordinary human failings and a solid moral compass. Albom writes in a warm, easy style that transports the reader to a world of second chances and what-ifs, where spirituality lies close to the surface but never intrudes on the story. Though a cynic will call it sappy, anyone who is sick to their core from the daily news will enjoy this escape from reality.
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780062406682
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
