A thin conflict downgrades this promising fake relationship to a lukewarm rom-com.
An organized software engineer reunites with the high school crush who jilted her on prom night.
Daisy Patel has a particular way of doing things as a self-described "neurotic software engineer." With her life in chaos after she catches her boyfriend cheating and learns that her company is in dire financial straits, Daisy can't take any more of her parents' romantic meddling. Liam Murphy has returned to San Francisco to mourn his grandfather and take over the family distillery, but there's a catch with his inheritance: He needs to get married. Though Liam is a friend of her brother's and her former high school crush, Daisy isn't exactly thrilled about their reunion, considering that he stood her up on prom night a decade earlier. However, a spark of lingering attraction motivates the pair to form a mutually beneficial agreement: They'll pretend to date and then marry out of convenience. Daisy's family is fond of Liam, and it'd give her some freedom from their pressure to settle down, and Liam will finally have the power to make some much-needed changes to the distillery. Given Daisy's love of detail and organization, she concocts a dating plan for the two of them, though sticking to the rules proves to be hard when pretending feels a lot like the real thing. Pop-culture nerds may appreciate Daisy's love for Marvel movies, as she often wears clothing emblazoned with the Avengers, but her obsession with Liam's prom-night gaffe makes this detail feel infantilizing rather than an unabashed example of fandom love. The weak conflict of a disappointing prom night feels unnecessary in the face of other obstacles Daisy and Liam may have to contend with as fake partners approaching a modern marriage of convenience.
A thin conflict downgrades this promising fake relationship to a lukewarm rom-com.Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 9780-5-931-0058-5
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
A powerfully strong romance for readers who like their love stories full of torment and passion.
Best friends confront feelings for each other when they take a honeymoon trip together.
Francesca Gardiner and George Saint James have always been best friends—just like Jo and Laurie from Little Women, which they both love. Frankie has a big, complicated family and George was the boy next door who’d moved in with his eccentric grandmother. Their friendship survived childhood, awkward teenage years, and living together as young adults without ever venturing into the romantic—well, except for one kiss, but they don’t talk about that. When Frankie gets engaged to an older professor named Nate, George isn’t happy and a huge fight ensues. Despite his misgivings, George shows up to be her best man, but Nate leaves Frankie right before the wedding with only a cryptic letter. Devastated, Frankie goes to a friend’s house to recuperate, but her honeymoon is already planned and paid for—so she decides to travel to Tofino, a picturesque town on the coast of Vancouver Island, with George taking Nate’s place. Frankie wants to fix her friendship with George, but now that they’re in a romantic suite in a beautiful location, things are more complicated than ever. She’d always thought a relationship would be a bad idea, but she’s slowly beginning to realize they’ll never be able to go back to being kids. Maybe the only way forward involves forging a new kind of relationship. Fortune, the author of romances like This Summer Will Be Different (2024), returns with another love story full of longing and intense angst. The many allusions to Little Women are charming, and Frankie is a delightfully headstrong, feisty character. She and George have explosive chemistry, and Fortune manages to make the “will-they-or-won’t-they” nature of their relationship feel like life-or-death stakes.
A powerfully strong romance for readers who like their love stories full of torment and passion.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9780593953242
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A cleverly titled, cozy SF romance that marks Thorne as a writer to watch.
After purchasing a dilapidated, century-old starship called the Destitute, Torian Razner discovers that the moss covering it is, in fact, a deeply sarcastic sentient computer with abandonment issues.
Torian’s sister, Celise, is dying. Determined to save her life by getting her to a distant planet with air she can breathe, Torian ignores her former captain Amelia Perrosk’s warning that it’s an impossible task (along with any romantic feelings she might have for Amelia). Using the only ionite bars she has to her name, Torian purchases an ancient, moss-covered alien starship that appears to be on its last legs, so to speak. She hardly expected the moss to be a sentient computer or for it to hold a century-old grudge against its former alien captain. Moss quickly proves itself to be acerbic, intelligent, and rightly angry after being having been left behind for 100 years by its former captain. The two form a reluctant and surprising alliance, Torian proving to Moss that not all captains are “dog-turd fungus,” and they both gradually evolve into the best versions of themselves, human or otherwise. It’s obvious from the early pages that Thorne has crafted a story tailored to fans of Becky Chambers’ Monk & Robot series and Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries. Falling somewhere between the two, this is a delightful mashup of romance, found family, and a touch of violence as Moss grapples with its feelings about its former captain and the unexpected kindness that Torian shows. Sweet without being overly saccharine, it’s a book for readers who want the adventure that comes with the vastness of outer space without its harsher realities.
A cleverly titled, cozy SF romance that marks Thorne as a writer to watch.Pub Date: July 7, 2026
ISBN: 9781250414144
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Bramble Books
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
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