An often frothy romance that manages to expertly combine emotional heft with pure escapism.
In Ready’s novel, a young woman receives a magical watch and then, after she falls in love, fights to make her dream life a reality.
The third book in Ready’s Ghosted series introduces Moonbeam Clover Fiona Abry (who’s insisted on going by “Fiona” ever since she was 8 years old). After inheriting her family’s Swiss watch business in Geneva following her father’s death, she and her brother, Daniel, have managed to pull the business out of near-bankruptcy. Fiona, a single mother, decided long ago to never open herself up to love, mainly because her own flighty mother intermittently abandoned her as a child. Her best friend, Max,still tries his hardest to woo her nevertheless. Fiona’s mother gives her a long-lost family heirloom—a watch from her heretofore unknown Uncle Leopold. When Fiona wears it, the watch gives Fiona dreams of her greatest desire. Fiona finds herself on a tropical island where everyone calls her “Becca”; she’s married to a handsome man named McCormick and has two delightful young children. Fiona decides to settle back and enjoy her recurrent dreams, since she feels her heart is protected from truly caring about this “fantasy”; then she unexpectedly begins to fall hopelessly in love with her sensitive, thoughtful dream husband. Although Fiona attempts to try her hand at romance with Max in reality, she can’t stop thinking about McCormick. A series of shocking twists make Fiona question everything she thought she knew—including herself.
Readers of conventional romances come to expect certain genre elements, and Ready does indeed deliver them over the course of this novel, but her real talent comes in subverting such familiar beats just enough so that readers begin to question how (or even if) certain events will come to pass. Although the book has plenty of swoonworthy romance—McCormick is basically a beach god—the author also hits on heavier themes that are less common in the genre, including abandonment, infidelity, motherhood, and duty. Ready has a lot to say about each, and she does so with wit and empathy. At one point, for example, when Fiona explainshow she fell in love with McCormick in her dreams, she describes it as “a gradual thing, like the flow of the gentle tide washing over a softly sanded golden beach. At least that’s what I tell myself when I’m lying….Well, we don’t lie in dreams, do we? Everyone knows that dreams are where we tell ourselves the truth.” The dialogue feels pleasantly natural throughout, and almost all the characters are well developed. That said, a few people, such as McCormick’s supposed best friend, Robert, veer into caricature. Fiona’s and Max’s attempts at moving their nine-year friendship into romantic territory is particularly earnest and realistic—so much so that readers might even have trouble deciding whether the very real Max or the very dreamy McCormick is the best match for Fiona.
An often frothy romance that manages to expertly combine emotional heft with pure escapism.Pub Date: July 16, 2024
ISBN: 9781954007772
Page Count: 492
Publisher: W.W. Crown
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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 charming love story that absolutely radiates warmth.
A single mom winds up fake dating an incredibly wealthy man in her hometown.
Dolly Brick is back in her hometown of Whitfield, Rhode Island, for the summer to help her dad and disabled brother manage their house and family business. As a 39-year-old single mother with multiple jobs—which now include working at the Brick Fish House—Dolly is always busy. When her mom left their family years ago, Dolly took over caring for her siblings and father and never really stopped. When she runs into Stewart Whitfield after making a shrimp delivery to his family’s mansion, she doesn’t think they could be more different. She’s had to figure out how to do everything by herself, and he can’t even change a tire. That’s why Stewart’s proposal that she pretend to be his girlfriend feels so unbelievable—but it comes with a hefty check that she desperately needs for home repairs. So she becomes the fake girlfriend of Stewart Whitfield (as in, the Whitfields her town is named after; his real fiancée just dumped him and it’s a bad time for him to be single) and experiences what it’s like to walk into fancy buildings through the front door instead of the service entrance. More than the boats and helicopter and expensive dinners, though, Dolly is impressed by what a kind man Stewart is—and how it feels to let someone else take care of her for a change. Soon, their relationship starts to feel more real than fake. Monaghan creates an impossibly winning story with a charming, lovable heroine. Dolly is capable, hardworking, and will do anything for the people she loves. She and Stewart both possess real flaws, and while their relationship begins with one of the most beloved rom-com tropes, their challenges feel like realistic adult obstacles rather than easily solved miscommunications. It’s also refreshing that, even though Dolly must learn to allow other people to help her, she never views her caretaking responsibilities as burdens. She deeply loves her family, and that love carries through the entire story.
A charming love story that absolutely radiates warmth.Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9780593853979
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
SEEN & HEARD
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