Love comes in many shapes and forms in this supernatural romance.
A dangerously alluring influencer’s life philosophy is torn to shreds when a lion shifter claws his way into her heart.
Elijah co-founded Third Shift after the events of the Darkest Day, when the covert existence of supernaturals became public knowledge and their peaceful co-existence with humans was irreparably harmed. As part of his latest mission for the secret organization, Elijah hopes to topple global terrorist and arms dealer Mirko Aston by way of his gorgeous girlfriend, Meghna Saxena-Saunders. But Meghna is an extremely skilled apsara assassin with a mission of her own. Although her beauty is supernatural, she does not need any special powers to charm Elijah. He in turn tempts Meghna to abandon her policy of avoiding attachments with men. But when their mutual entanglement jeopardizes both their missions, Elijah and Meghna must join forces to salvage the situation. The second installment in Snyder’s Third Shift series, following Big Bad Wolf (2021), is darker and bloodier than the first. Elijah and Meghna’s instant sexual chemistry catalyzes some engaging moments, but as Third Shift’s fight against a corrupt and unjust world gathers steam, romance gets inadvertently pushed to the back burner. Instead, the predicaments of a diverse set of engaging secondary characters occupy center stage, serving to underline the stakes of the protagonists’ battles. Snyder tugs at several threads from Hindu mythology, with a keen awareness of gender and caste politics, and draws intelligent parallels between mythical creatures and the mythos associated with women in current times. A relentless focus on the battle of good versus evil mostly eclipses complexities and nuances, but Snyder manages to occasionally tease out and address some gray areas.
Love comes in many shapes and forms in this supernatural romance.Pub Date: Oct. 26, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-72821-500-6
Page Count: 312
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
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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