A scorching and compelling historical romance.
An infamous courtesan and a reserved earl share a month of new experiences.
Thaïs Magdalene is known in London as the “best fuck in Britain,” and that’s exactly how she likes it. She accepts one patron a week, for one night only, and never the same man twice. Now, her notoriety will deepen further, because in order to raise money for her beloved Institute for the Equality of Women, she’s auctioning off an entire month of her favors. Twenty-five thousand guineas later, she’s preparing to spend the next 30 days with a filthy-rich poet—or so she thinks. In fact, when she arrives at the address she’s been given, she learns that she’s actually about to spend a month in the middle of nowhere with the upright Lord Alastair Eden, who is “about the furthest thing from a whoring rakehell she [can] imagine.” And Alistair is definitely nervous about his month with Thaïs, but he’s determined to see it through. A friend helped him secretly bid for her services because he’s hoping to marry soon, and since he has little experience in the bedroom, he’s hired her to be absolutely sure he knows how to pleasure his future wife, whoever she may be. Because Alastair is shy, they don’t jump right to the sex lessons; instead, Thaïs puts together a schedule, and they slowly work through the many ways a married couple can make each other happy. As they approach the end of their month together, Thaïs starts wondering if Alastair could be the husband to give her the family she’s secretly wanted for many years, but Alastair doesn’t allow himself to think about it since he’s got plans to marry a society lady—until Thaïs leaves. This plot is a perfect match for Peckham’s mastery of erotic writing, providing multiple opportunities for breathtakingly intimate scenes and providing rich emotional development alongside the steam. Readers who like their historical romances big, bawdy, and over the top will be thrilled by the conclusion to Peckham’s Society of Sirens series, especially as it ties up some loose ends from the first two books.
A scorching and compelling historical romance.Pub Date: June 25, 2024
ISBN: 9780062935656
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Light on plot and heavy on bolstering traditional gender norms as the ultimate goal for both men and women.
A Seattle woman meets a Chicago businessman as she flies home from a visit to a friend, and her small act of kindness blossoms into more.
Maisy Gallagher is barely making ends meet. With her father’s unexpected death a few years earlier, she dropped out of nursing school to help out in the family’s jewelry store, working with her uncle. Her older brother, Sean, also moved back home so he and Maisy could help their mother and their 10-year-old brother, Patrick. When Maisy offers a ride to a rude businessman who sat next to her on the plane, she’s just operating on the kindness her grandmother instilled in her. That businessman, Chase Furst, turns out to be an incredibly wealthy banker; he’s flown into Seattle to make funeral arrangements for his mother, to whom he hasn’t spoken in years. Sparks fly in this gentle and predictable romance that leans heavily on long-distance and class-divide tropes. As with many of the author’s books, Christianity and the characters’ reliance on God’s will—as they wait and see what happens next—play a large part, as do traditional gender roles where women cook, clean, and only work in paying jobs until they have children at home to take care of. The author does offer a lighter touch when it comes to the painful ways alcoholism can destroy family relationships, with an understanding of the regret that can weigh on every family member.
Light on plot and heavy on bolstering traditional gender norms as the ultimate goal for both men and women.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9798217091676
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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