A paranormal fit for Regency readers, and a Regency fit for paranormal readers.
When the prince regent tells a widow to marry a bear shifter, how can she refuse?
Beatrice, dowager Marchioness of Castleton, never wants to marry again. She was forced into her first marriage and then discovered her cruel husband was a versipellis, or shape-shifter, revealing to her an entire paranormal wing of the beau monde—including the prince regent. Arthur, Duke of Osborn, another versipellis and cousin to the prince, also doesn’t want to marry, as it would betray his childhood vow to never step into his role as an Alpha. But Prince George has other plans for the two of them, and those plans require a quick and quiet wedding in the back of a chapel. After the ceremony, Beatrice and Arthur quickly agree that theirs will be a "white marriage," meaning it won't be consummated, and she gets to work meeting his staff and repairing his estate, still in shambles, destroyed by the man who killed his father when he was a child. They settle into their unexpected new lives, separate though in the same house, but when his sister and her family come to visit, Beatrice discovers that the versipellian world is far more diverse and kind than she experienced in her first marriage. Having guests also brings the newlyweds closer, and as proximity begins to build a powerful attraction between them, they shift from a white marriage to a more passionate “cordial affiliation.” But the marriage can’t truly be consummated until Arthur is finally willing to overcome his childhood trauma and face down his enemies—which may be too much to ask. The second book in Allen’s Regency shape-shifter series is, like the first, A Wolf in Duke's Clothing (2021), an enjoyable combination of subgenres, fully devoted to the tropes of both. The book moves effortlessly between paranormal lingo and Regency touches, and though the plot is fairly basic, the dialogue is clever and funny. Readers equally interested in Prince George's historic fashion sense and shape-shifter pack dynamics will be thrilled.
A paranormal fit for Regency readers, and a Regency fit for paranormal readers.Pub Date: Dec. 28, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-72823-039-9
Page Count: 312
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
A strong debut about characters who meet in the pause between pain and hope.
Skylar King is a college recruitment officer with a rare chronic illness. Brandon Pike is a former pro snowboarder whose career ended in a very public accident. With pain setting the pace of their relationship, will they have the patience to learn one another’s rhythms?
The most important parts of Skylar’s life happen online, in the support group for people with chronic pain she started with her friends. It’s where she can be herself without having to worry about being professional or polite. Pike is an Olympic athlete whose entanglements with women are almost as legendary as his skill on the slopes. He finds much-needed anonymity in Skylar’s group until his mother pops up, responding to one of his posts on New Year’s Eve. Misinterpreting Pike’s raw grief for suicidal ideation, she threatens to call the police for a wellness check if he doesn’t call her. When Pike doesn’t respond, Skylar, trying to help, writes that she knows he’s fine because he’s asleep in her bed. Which is, to say the least, not true. And Pike is not happy, having always promised to tell his mother if he ever started dating someone. To make his mom stop hovering, Pike lightly blackmails Skylar by threatening to tell the other group admins what she did; thus, they enter a two-month fake-dating situation. Unlike the protagonists of many romance novels, Pike and Skylar get gritty—honest about their physical obstacles and very real about things like medical misogyny and toxic positivity. This book is also an extremely slow burn that pays off exponentially. The sex is super hot. Because Skylar and Pike learn early to communicate about pain and limitations, they’re great communicators by the time they do eventually hook up, which makes for some steamy dirty talk. Together they learn that while chronic illness comes with restrictions, their desire for one another does not.
A strong debut about characters who meet in the pause between pain and hope.Pub Date: Feb. 10, 2026
ISBN: 9781538771570
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
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