An entertaining and sharply written, if sometimes over-the-top, tale of an ideologically divided America.
MacDonald’s political romance asks: Can a progressive musician love a hard-right Republican—and without getting framed for murder?
Sam Maripol, the frontman of a rock band in Palm Beach, Florida, is bummed out at the election of a very Trump-like politician for president. His despond lifts when he meets gorgeous, blue-eyed nurse Ashley Beck, only to return when he finds out that she’s a Christian Republican; they have heated exchanges on abortion and other hot-button issues, but sizzling sexual chemistry keeps them interested in each other. (Ashley’s resolve to not have sex before marriage poses little obstacle, as she interprets this rule as only restricting intercourse.) A bigger obstacle is Ashley’s dad, Adam, a wealthy Christian nationalist who dislikes Sam, offers him $100,000 to dump Ashley, and brings in a rival suitor to woo her away. Sam discovers that Adam is surveilling Ashley’s apartment, and retaliates by bugging Adam’s mansion, which reveals a plot to assassinate the new president—he’s too loose a cannon, apparently, even for the far right—and frame Sam as the left-wing killer. Now, the rocker faces the dismaying task of trying to save a president whom he despises, while also wondering if Ashley set him up. MacDonald’s lurid portrait of a Republican-dominated America is full of rabid bigots and fascist militias, as well as vehement left-leaning polemics: “Fux News told them to blame immigrants, people of color, liberals, and elitists, whatever that means; and we know the White working class has more prejudice than economic sense,” says Sam’s best friend, discussing the president’s base. Despite some distracting soapboxing, MacDonald is a talented and perceptive writer, especially during the assassination subplot, which combines suspense with shrewd psychological nuance and punchy, evocative prose: “He’s in love with the crowd,” one conspirator tells a would-be assassin, describing the president’s rallies, adding that “After a while, he’ll get a little tired, lean against the podium, rest on his elbow, and go silent for a moment while he listens to them cheer…. That’s when he’s motionless. Wait for it.”
An entertaining and sharply written, if sometimes over-the-top, tale of an ideologically divided America.Pub Date: Dec. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9798901849217
Page Count: 222
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A smart, steamy romance.
Tomforde’s sports romance pairs boardroom power plays with dugout drama.
As the youngest and only female owner of a Major League Baseball team, Reese Remington is used to pressure. Even though Reese is the granddaughter of the Windy City Warriors’ former owner, the men around her still question her position; she’ll “most likely have to work twice as hard and make [the] club’s success twice as noticeable to have any hope of being viewed as the right person to operate this team.” It doesn’t help that the franchise is bleeding money, the result of her grandfather’s hands-off approach in the years before his retirement. Reese must use her razor-sharp intelligence and fierce business sense to not only prove herself in a role in which the public is eager to see her fail, but also to make unpopular financial decisions to get the team out of the red. Enter Emmett Montgomery, a former All-Star turned field manager whose priorities lie firmly with people rather than profit. A man devoted to his team and his adopted child, Emmett has long since closed the door on romance, despite gentle nudging from his loved ones. His empathetic team-first mentality puts him immediately at odds with Reese’s pragmatic agenda, and with his contract up at the end of the year, Emmett worries he’ll be on the chopping block if he speaks out too much. Told from the perspectives of the leads, the novel gives equal page time to Reese and Emmett. Their concerns––the scrutiny Reese must endure as a woman in a male-dominated industry, and Emmett’s worries over his contract renewal––are tangible and add a sense of urgency to their every decision. While the novel includes some unavoidable exposition dumps to orient readers, it more than compensates by establishing clear stakes and a sense of momentum from the outset. The narrative successfully introduces credible barriers to the romance, which largely follows recognizable genre beats. The baseball setting is also used effectively, with the season-long arc mirroring the couple’s romantic and professional journeys.
A smart, steamy romance.Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781649379795
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Feb. 13, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
© Copyright 2026 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.
