A compelling tale of two ultimately resilient people learning to let go of fear in favor of love.
A true-crime obsessive tries to let down her guard with the grumpy next-door neighbor who secretly has his own emotional demons to face.
Bubbly, lively Andi Lockley has always harbored a deep love for horror and true crime, and as a podcaster and writer, she can dive into these subjects head-on as a means of confronting her own anxieties about the world—as well as the very real trauma from her past that occasionally rears its ugly head. But she often wonders whether her obsession with scary subjects has left her too afraid to be truly vulnerable with anyone, especially when it comes to potential romance. A chance meeting with her gruff neighbor, however, leaves the door open for the possibility of something that could free her from the fear that's been holding her back. Former firefighter Hill Dawson has been struggling to find a new purpose in life after an accident in the field caused him to lose part of his leg. It doesn't help that his former fiancee cheated on him with his best friend right when he needed her most, and when he meets Andi, the girl next door, he's head over heels from the beginning. There are a lot of factors conspiring against them, though—their age difference, for one, which is less than 10 years but which Hill thinks is too large, not to mention their shared reluctance to get involved too seriously. While they decide to take things one day at a time, it turns out that there are deeper emotions at play, and both Andi and Hill will need to come to grips with the fact that a fun, friendly arrangement that may have started out as casual might be more serious than they had planned for. Loren has an enduring ability to navigate heavier subjects within an engrossing love story, and although a subplot involving an internet stalker climaxes in a manner that feels somewhat out of step with the rest of the book, the themes of PTSD and anxiety, as well as the hero's disability, are handled with thoughtfulness and care.
A compelling tale of two ultimately resilient people learning to let go of fear in favor of love.Pub Date: July 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4926-9325-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2021
A solid contemporary with a balance of humor and lasting emotional beats.
In this contemporary romance, two emergency room doctors, both recovering from messy breakups, form a close, comforting friendship and perhaps something more.
Dr. Briana Ortiz has enough on her plate. She’s in the midst of finalizing her divorce, and her brother’s on a deadline to find a kidney donor. Now she has to worry that the new doctor, Jacob Maddox, is there to nab her promotion to chief of emergency medicine. Admittedly, Jacob—who has social anxiety—doesn't make the best first impression on Bri, telling her off for bumping into him in the hall. To make amends, he writes her a letter to explain himself and apologize, and the tension between them softens as their letters to each other keep coming. Bri realizes Jacob isn’t there to undermine her, and Jacob gets to see Bri’s more vulnerable side. When Jacob offers to be Bri’s brother’s kidney donor and Bri agrees to be Jacob’s pretend girlfriend for a wedding, it's easy to wonder what kept these two apart in the first place. The answer: not much. Of course, the two are carrying some heavy baggage from prior relationships, but it seems like a minor obstacle when compared to the genuine connection Jacob and Bri share. This is a cute, slow-burn romance with plenty of funny moments and emotional challenges, though the focus seems to be on the leads finally realizing what’s been in front of them all along through grand and sometimes unnecessary machinations. Did this need a fake dating subplot? Or epistolary flirting? Not really, but Jimenez manages to pepper these adorable tropes throughout without making them feel too gimmicky.
A solid contemporary with a balance of humor and lasting emotional beats.Pub Date: April 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781538704394
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
A heartfelt look at taking second chances, in life and in love.
Two struggling authors spend the summer writing and falling in love in a quaint beach town.
January Andrews has just arrived in the small town of North Bear Shores with some serious baggage. Her father has been dead for a year, but she still hasn’t come to terms with what she found out at his funeral—he had been cheating on her mother for years. January plans to spend the summer cleaning out and selling the house her father and “That Woman” lived in together. But she’s also a down-on-her-luck author facing writer’s block, and she no longer believes in the happily-ever-after she’s made the benchmark of her work. Her steadily dwindling bank account, though, is a daily reminder that she must sell her next book, and fast. Serendipitously, she discovers that her new next-door neighbor is Augustus Everett, the darling of the literary fiction set and her former college rival/crush. Gus also happens to be struggling with his next book (and some serious trauma that unfolds throughout the novel). Though the two get off to a rocky start, they soon make a bet: Gus will try to write a romance novel, and January will attempt “bleak literary fiction.” They spend the summer teaching each other the art of their own genres—January takes Gus on a romantic outing to the local carnival; Gus takes January to the burned-down remains of a former cult—and they both process their own grief, loss, and trauma through this experiment. There are more than enough steamy scenes to sustain the slow-burn romance, and smart commentary on the placement and purpose of “women’s fiction” joins with crucial conversations about mental health to add multiple intriguing layers to the plot.
A heartfelt look at taking second chances, in life and in love.Pub Date: May 19, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0673-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Jove/Penguin
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK TO SCREEN
PERSPECTIVES
© Copyright 2024 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.
bookshelf
