A steamy love story with memorable characters despite occasional distracting asides.
In Bell’s romance, an NFL player and his unlikely best friend fall in love.
Sawyer Jackson, a 25-year-old Miami Mavericks tight end—a position likely chosen for its double-entendre—is convinced that beautiful, hilarious, 21-year-old Kennedy Quinn, a student at the Berklee College of Music, has “gifted [him] a FastPass to the friend zone.” Kennedy reciprocates Sawyer’s attraction, but an ex-boyfriend, Boston College’s star quarterback Hunter Sterling, recently cheated on her. She isn’t ready to move on, so she and her “Hottest Friend,” Sawyer, maintain a flirty but platonic connection. The narrative then shifts abruptly to three years and four months later, when Sawyer is about to join the big-league New York Cougars—for which Hunter is the quarterback—and still nursing his crush on close friend Kennedy. She’s moved to New York City with musical-theater aspirations and a powerful agent, William Abreu, to match. Sawyer wants to get out of “Kennedy’s friend zone and into her heart’s end zone,” but a number of factors could jeopardize their romance: Sawyer’s playboy history; Kennedy’s sexy new roommate, Andrew; a “morality and ethics clause” in Sawyer’s Cougars contract that could keep the couple apart; and neither party's wanting to ruin their current relationship. As Sawyer and Kennedy’s attractions heats up, the author heightens the internal and external stakes for the characters, making for a page-turning read. Sawyer’s voice is full of “colorful verbiage,” as Kennedy puts it in one of her point-of-view sections, and often-funny metaphors: Kennedy’s laugh is described by Sawyer as a “cock-hardening ballad” in narration; he also calls his teammate Declan Walsh an “anti-wingman” and opines that calling men’s boxers “panties” is “basically verbal castration.” However, italicized asides sometimes distract from the narrative: After a heartfelt confession, for instance, Kennedy breaks out of the moment to think, “Whoa. That’s a lot to unpack.” Both Sawyer’s and Kennedy’s perspectives are laugh-out-loud funny, but the author occasionally dips into cliché: “She didn't wear a drop of makeup; she didn’t need it.” That said, the leads each gain depth as their relationship progresses.
A steamy love story with memorable characters despite occasional distracting asides.Pub Date: Nov. 28, 2022
ISBN: 9798985418453
Page Count: 294
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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