A flawed book that’s vibrant, didactic, and problematic, by turns.
In this romance, a middle-aged woman is wary of commitment to a younger man.
Amara Glazer is a 44-year-old Jewish woman living in Chicago, working as a dog groomer after a stint as an international development consultant in Malawi. She’s also in the middle of a yearslong romantic-relationship drought. Daler Singh is a 24-year-old Tanzanian-born Sikh and international pop star whose kohl-rimmed eyes, lithe physique, and suggestive hit “Don’t Hustle Me” make him People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive. He and Amara have little in common, aside from a time long ago in a Kenyan resort, when Amara spent a week having sex with the teenage Daler. They meet again in the presentwhen Amara takes a six-month gig in Los Angeles as a live-in dog trainer to a Los Angeles Lakers player, and Daler arrives in the city on tour. They instantly fall into bed, and Daler soon proposes to Amara, declaring that she’s the only woman who ever satisfied him. Amara is equally avid, but bitter experience with men makes her wonder how realistic his ardor is. Michaels’ ambivalent novel veers between explicit sexuality and a cagey critique of it as a foundation for long-term happiness. Amara is also hard-nosed about the pitfalls of meshing their lifestyles, domestic arrangements, and bank accounts: “If you’re prepared to support me financially, I want proof you can do that if you want me to stop working and be with you,” she tells Daler. Dog training also pervades the book in the many scenes of Amara coaching and primping canines and in her ethos of integrity and responsibility. As such, the novel sometimes feels more like a lively, tough-talking self-help guide than a romance. For the most part, Amara is depicted as an appealing, quirky character, holding forth endlessly on such subjects as dogs, sex, African history, and musician Freddie Mercury. However, her troubling behavior in the section set in the past, when she’s 24, goes largely unexamined. Daler, who’s only 14 at the time, is depicted as instigating the sexual interaction, which is portrayed as an unproblematic liaison that both characters find blissful and edifying.
A flawed book that’s vibrant, didactic, and problematic, by turns.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64531-595-7
Page Count: 244
Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing, Inc.
Review Posted Online: July 24, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An extremely fun, fast-paced, and unusual addition to the marriage-in-trouble romance canon.
A marriage on the rocks gets a second chance—with a science-fiction twist.
Dr. Emery Martín is happily married to her husband Luca…mostly. She’s been madly in love with him since the moment they met, but in the three years they’ve been wed, she hasn’t been able to focus much on him. To the world—including Luca—Emery’s job involves developing medical-grade lasers. In reality, she works at a supersecret San Diego lab that’s engineering a compound to bring mammals back from the dead. Although Emery doesn’t want to admit it, she can tell that Luca feels pushed aside, but she believes so deeply in her work that she has a hard time leaving the lab. When Emery is late for dinner—yet again—on their anniversary, she rushes home only to see Luca get hit by a car. She has the secret compound in her car, and she knows she could get in major trouble if she uses it—but what’s she supposed to do, not save her husband’s life? The compound has only been tested on animals so far, and there’s no guarantee it will even work for humans. It does, though, and Luca comes back to life—with one small caveat. He can’t remember most things, including his marriage to Emery. After almost losing Luca, Emery is now grateful for what she has, and she’s determined to show him that she can be a better, more attentive partner. While Luca may not remember her, their magnetic chemistry is still there. This may be the do-over they needed to save their marriage—that is, if Emery can keep the life-reviving measures she took hidden from everyone around them, including nosy neighbors and her own company. Lauren—the pen name of the duo behind rom-coms like The Paradise Problem (2024)—has created a unique hook that feels genuinely refreshing. Emery and Luca’s unconventional second chance is emotionally compelling, and the slight thriller edge as Emery tries to cover up her actions keeps the pages turning.
An extremely fun, fast-paced, and unusual addition to the marriage-in-trouble romance canon.Pub Date: July 14, 2026
ISBN: 9781668017753
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
A deliciously dramatic look at how one woman’s past influences her future.
A happily engaged woman is pulled back to her hometown—and her first love—when tragedy strikes.
Billie Wright is living her dream, running a thriving fertility clinic in New York City and engaged to a wonderful trauma surgeon named Dean. Her happily-ever-after meant giving up her life in Wisconsin, where she left behind many friends as well as her high school sweetheart, Mick. Although they’d been deeply in love, when Billie’s ambition pulled her away from home and toward the city, Mick couldn’t handle either the distance or her busy schedule. Billie has finally moved on from that heartbreak—but then she receives a phone call from Mick, the first communication between them in years. Her best friend, Erin, died in a car accident, leaving behind an 11-year-old daughter, Phoebe. Now Billie must return home to help sort Erin’s affairs and provide some kind of comfort to Phoebe while grieving the loss of her best friend. Of course, being back home also means being in close contact with Mick. Their feelings for each other may not have ever gone away, and their proximity leads to big decisions for Billie. Can she ever reconcile her current life in Manhattan with her past in Wisconsin? And which one will be her future? Giffin knows how to do drama, and she ratchets up the stakes with every page as she continues to reveal new obstacles for Billie. The ending wraps up quite neatly, but the nostalgia-filled ride is full of twists and turns that will keep readers flipping the pages.
A deliciously dramatic look at how one woman’s past influences her future.Pub Date: July 7, 2026
ISBN: 9780593600320
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
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