A sweet romance that takes its time to court the reader: classic, thoughtful, and sometimes as lyrical as the stars.
An artist and an astronomer are brought together through admiration of the night sky’s beauty.
Though the novel gets off to a slow start, that can be seen as a direct reflection of the main characters' personalities—Brooke is a self-conscious artist named after a model, Owen is a shy astrophysicist—when they first meet through Brooke’s uncle. The book could have fallen apart, but Chase (Speed Dating, 2017, etc.) focuses on the humanity of her characters, which turns out to be the most rewarding part of the story. Brooke’s anxiety about love is acutely portrayed; she wonders if Owen is involved with another woman, or if he finds her attractive, and how her feelings will play into their future business dealings together—specifically, a stargazing trip Owen is planning to lead in the deserts of Nevada and which Brooke is going to assist him on. Their first kiss is especially satisfying in that Owen unravels; although it initially seems his only desire is to study the stars, his desire to know and love Brooke turns out to be as vast as the galaxy he’s committed his life to understanding. While this new layer of his character seems natural, his and Brooke’s sudden decision to hop on a flight to Las Vegas ahead of the pre-planned desert trip seems too far out of character. However, the unusual circumstances do push both lovers to their limits; whereas tension in historical romance is often accumulated through class differences or social expectation, the catalyst here is more psychological in tone. Both Brooke and Owen simply fear rejection.
A sweet romance that takes its time to court the reader: classic, thoughtful, and sometimes as lyrical as the stars.Pub Date: June 6, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-1634-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable...
An unlucky woman finally gets lucky in love on an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii.
From getting her hand stuck in a claw machine at age 6 to losing her job, Olive Torres has never felt that luck was on her side. But her fortune changes when she scores a free vacation after her identical twin sister and new brother-in-law get food poisoning at their wedding buffet and are too sick to go on their honeymoon. The only catch is that she’ll have to share the honeymoon suite with her least favorite person—Ethan Thomas, the brother of the groom. To make matters worse, Olive’s new boss and Ethan’s ex-girlfriend show up in Hawaii, forcing them both to pretend to be newlyweds so they don’t blow their cover, as their all-inclusive vacation package is nontransferable and in her sister’s name. Plus, Ethan really wants to save face in front of his ex. The story is told almost exclusively from Olive’s point of view, filtering all communication through her cynical lens until Ethan can win her over (and finally have his say in the epilogue). To get to the happily-ever-after, Ethan doesn’t have to prove to Olive that he can be a better man, only that he was never the jerk she thought he was—for instance, when she thought he was judging her for eating cheese curds, maybe he was actually thinking of asking her out. Blending witty banter with healthy adult communication, the fake newlyweds have real chemistry as they talk it out over snorkeling trips, couples massages, and a few too many tropical drinks to get to the truth—that they’re crazy about each other.
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable as well as free.Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2803-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
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