Another beautiful, breathtaking novel from a not-to-be-missed author.
A young Indian woman is finally healthy thanks to a heart transplant, but when she becomes the target of a notorious crime lord, she has to depend on the man she loves to protect her.
Kimi has battled illnesses since she was a child—first a compromised immune system, then a weak heart. Through it all, her one friend has been Rahul, a boy whose father, a policeman, died protecting her own father, Kirit, a politician. Kirit has helped Rahul, giving him opportunities he wouldn’t otherwise have had. He’ll never be able to pay off the debt, but Rahul insists on working in Kirit’s house, where he meets Kimi. The two unlikely friends are well-matched intellectually and respond to each other’s wounded spirits, and the relationship helps the lonely Kimi thrive. Rahul is very much aware of their financial and social differences—“The Mansion’s main living room never failed to make him feel like he had wandered up to the forbidden first-class deck on the Titanic”—and once Kimi is a healthy adult, Rahul tries to protect himself and honor her father’s wishes by distancing himself. Kimi is frustrated that he won’t admit he loves her and tries to move on, an attempt that is foiled when a local crime lord threatens her; Rahul, now a high-ranking police officer, won’t let anyone else protect her. The menace is attached to an illegal organ investigation, but Kimi’s donation was clean, so why is someone after her? Kimi and Rahul travel from Mumbai to Hong Kong to get answers, learning truths about each other and their pasts that will strengthen their devotion but may also forge obstacles they can’t overcome. Dev’s (A Change of Heart, 2016, etc.) latest searingly asks its characters what they’re willing to do for the people they love, with a narrative that deftly jumps from past to present as it explores family dynamics, class issues, and many layers of guilt, hope, and determination in ways that are both distinctly Indian and universally luminous.
Another beautiful, breathtaking novel from a not-to-be-missed author.Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4967-0576-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
An excellent debut that combines wit, humor, and emotional intensity.
A woman refuses to be with her soul mate, but life intervenes, making her choice harder and more heartbreaking.
Josh meets Kristen with a bang, literally, when she slams on her brakes and he runs into her. There's minimal damage, so she disappears. Minutes later they discover that their best friends are engaged to each other and they were slated to meet that day at the fire station where Brandon and Josh work. Josh is immediately smitten, but Kristen has a boyfriend, Tyler, who’s deployed overseas. Counting down the days until he gets home for good, Kristen adamantly puts Josh in the friend zone, refusing to acknowledge their growing closeness and her spiking attraction. Then Tyler reenlists, effectively breaking up with her. Kristen and Josh sleep together, but she slams the door on his hope for a real relationship, telling him it will never be more than a friends-with-benefits situation. Josh thinks Kristen is mourning the end of her relationship with Tyler, but really, Kristen realizes Josh is her perfect match. Unfortunately she also knows Josh wants children, which would be nearly impossible for them due to her malfunctioning reproductive system. The two reach a painful impasse, but when tragedy strikes, they find themselves reevaluating their relationship. Josh knows he’ll never be happy without Kristen, but he’ll have to think outside the box to convince her to take a chance on them. Jimenez tackles a myriad of issues in her debut and hits each one with depth and sensitivity. Kristen’s take-no-prisoners attitude is smart and sassy and perfectly balanced by Josh’s easygoing resourcefulness, though at times her lack of transparency while jerking him around makes her seem more immature than self-sacrificing.
An excellent debut that combines wit, humor, and emotional intensity.Pub Date: July 9, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5387-1560-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
Another romance winner for Shalvis.
After helping her recover from a devastating accident, physical therapist AJ Colten rejected Darcy Stone’s romantic overture; now he needs her help acquiring grants for his program, placing both their hearts in danger.
Dedicated wanderer and travel journalist Darcy is sidelined—and lucky to be alive—after icy roads and an aggressive driver forced her car into a tree. Now, nearly a year after the accident, she’s relatively healthy and mobile but not hale enough to return to her globe-trotting career. While disappointed, she’s grateful to be alive and honest enough to admit that without AJ’s help, she’d still be in a wheelchair. Weighing her next steps, Darcy is doing a couple of part-time jobs to help pay the bills and fund her passion project of adopting former service dogs and pairing them with emotionally vulnerable patients, but it's nowhere near the income she made as a journalist. When AJ has the opportunity to meet a potential donor for his pro bono therapy work, he arranges to have a client travel with him to Boise, but the man backs out at the last second. Darcy reluctantly agrees to step in, since her relationship with AJ is tricky. First, he's her brother's best friend; second, she has a mad attraction to him; third, she works for him at his clinic; and fourth, she threw herself at him during her rehabilitation and he rejected her, pushing all of her inadequacy buttons. But she also feels grateful and obligated to him and knows this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. AJ isn't thrilled that Darcy is his best hope for funding since he has a ton of reasons to keep her at arm's length, reasons that become less compelling as they endure a snowbound weekend and a pretend love affair. Shalvis' newest Animal Magnetism title leverages emotional conflict and sexual tension into a satisfying romance, while physically and emotionally wounded Darcy learns lessons of love and acceptance that readers will cheer for.
Another romance winner for Shalvis.Pub Date: April 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-425-27018-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
