A wholesome if predictable summer romance.
A teenage girl finds first love with a boy from the wrong side of the tracks in the summer of 1968.
Shelby Montgomery, from an extremely influential white family in Memphis, loves summertime, when the Montgomerys travel to their country estate in Tupelo, Mississippi. Rare for the time, the teen’s best friend is an African American girl named Liberty Chestnut, who brings Shelby down to the local pond for swimming on hot summer days. On one of these days, Shelby spies River Martin, a handsome, brooding, local boy she doesn’t know much about, and when their eyes meet, she’s thoroughly smitten. Liberty tells Shelby that River, who's white, is a blues musician, and she knows just how to sneak in to his upcoming gig. As Shelby and River connect, Shelby also learns the disturbing news that her own father is much despised by many locals because he’s been scheming to purchase their land to make way for a new highway. When a tragic accident befalls another member of the town, Shelby must decide how far she’s willing to go to prevent the wrong person from taking the blame. As she attempts to navigate her relationships and simultaneously save the town from her father’s “improvement” plans, it seems it might just be too much for one young woman. Told in a close third person, the book primarily follows Shelby. Tupelo provides the perfect backdrop for this coming-of-age story; both the socioeconomic battles and Shelby’s increasingly rebellious behavior contrast well with the charming southern town. While the setting details are rich, with descriptions of blackberry pies, fireflies, and lakeside bluffs in abundance, physical descriptions of most characters are sparse, making it difficult to keep identities straight. Similarly, the plot-heavy story is full of action and drama, but the characters’ emotions often feel underdeveloped. Even so, the author does an admirable job of exposing issues related to loss of innocence and artificial social boundaries.
A wholesome if predictable summer romance.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2025
ISBN: 9798993139500
Page Count: 251
Publisher: Emerald Fountain Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2025
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
Two hot people confronting their trauma, making passionate love, and solving violent crimes! ’Nuff said.
A heartbroken man lusts after his therapist while seeking revenge on a drug kingpin and his enforcer.
Mitch Haskell’s wife, Angela, died two years ago of an apparent suicide, but Mitch has always believed the scene was staged. Certainly, she would never have willingly left their young son, Andrew, behind. Consumed with a thirst for vengeance, Mitch—a former Marine and undercover agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration and currently a police detective—is struggling with alcohol dependency and uncontrolled rage. Andrew is living with his in-laws, who are making not-so-subtle suggestions that they might apply for permanent guardianship if Mitch can’t get it together. So his boss and best friend, John Bowie, mandates that he go into therapy, which puts him in the path of sexy Dr. Dylan Reede. Within a few days, Mitch makes a connection between two new murders and the death of his former partner; finds a big clue that points to the truth about Angela’s death; goes undercover as a homeless man; takes on a vicious drug cartel; and obnoxiously bullies Dylan with a charm offensive that leads them inevitably to bed. While Mitch seems to lean into the stereotype of the ex-soldier/cop with deeply buried trauma who believes that the ends justify the means—at least in law enforcement—Dylan offers the strength and sweetness to help him start breaking down his walls, allowing herself to be vulnerable in turn. Is passionate sex enough to ground a relationship and a family for the long term? For these characters, and the breakneck speed of this thriller, it’s as good a foundation as any.
Two hot people confronting their trauma, making passionate love, and solving violent crimes! ’Nuff said.Pub Date: March 17, 2026
ISBN: 9781538743027
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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