A fun read that’s perfect for lovers of pop music, classic books, and romantic comedies.
A semiforgotten singer seeks love and a new hit song in this debut from Hoffs, the co-founder of the Bangles.
Thirty-three-year-old Jane Start is afraid she might already be a washed-up one-hit wonder. Ten years ago, she found success with a cover of a song by the enigmatic rock star Jonesy. But she hasn’t had a hit since, and now she finds herself so desperate for work that she’s playing a private gig at a bachelor party. Her manager and best friend, Pippa, sends Jane to London to recuperate from the humiliation of singing karaoke to a group of drunk bachelors and the pain of being recently dumped by her boyfriend of four years. On the plane, Jane meets an Oxford literature professor named Tom Hardy, and the two manage to charm each other with their in-flight conversation. Impulsively, Jane kisses him, and the two exchange numbers before they part. When Jane gets to London, her life becomes all about another unexpected connection—Jonesy himself wants Jane to perform at his upcoming show at the Royal Albert Hall. Jane needs the work, but the idea of performing in front of such a large crowd, and with the same mysterious superstar who was such a big part of her early career, gives her pause. When she finally hears from Tom again, the two of them fall into a heady and intoxicating relationship. But Jane starts to wonder how much she really knows about Tom and whether the figurative ghosts of his ex-girlfriends might haunt his home and his heart. She also wonders if she can ever separate herself from her hit song of 10 years ago and the man who was behind it. Hoffs writes with a snappy wit that recalls rom-com favorites like Bridget Jones’s Diary. There are the expected musical references (each chapter begins with a song title, and Jane and Tom bond over their favorite music), but there are many literature references, too—most notably to Jane Eyre and Rebecca.
A fun read that’s perfect for lovers of pop music, classic books, and romantic comedies.Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9780316409315
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.
A high school senior pursues an affair with her teacher.
Seventeen-year-old Waldo, the narrator of McCurdy’s fiction debut, lives in Anchorage, Alaska, with her mother, though she’s long been the parent in their relationship. She heats her own frozen meals and pays the bills on time while her mom chases man after man and makes well-meaning promises she never keeps. Waldo blows her Victoria’s Secret wages on online shopping sprees and binges on junk food, inevitably crashing after the fleeting highs of her indulgences. Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher, has “thinning hair and nose pores”; he’s 40 years old and married with a child. Nevertheless—or possibly as a result?—Waldo’s attraction to him is “instant. So sudden it’s alarming. So palpable it’s confusing.” Mr. Korgy professes to want to keep their friendship aboveboard, but after a sexual encounter at the school’s winter formal that she initiates, an affair begins. Will this reckless pursuit be the one that actually satisfies Waldo, and is she as mature as she thinks she is? Waldo is a keen observer of people and provides sharp commentary on the punishing work of female beauty. Readers of McCurdy’s bestselling memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died (2022), will surely be curious about the tumultuous mother-daughter relationship, and it is one of the novel’s highlights, full of realistic pity and anger and need. (“I want to scream at her. I want her to hug me.”) Unfortunately, the prose is often unwieldy and sometimes downright cringeworthy: When Waldo tells Mr. Korgy she loves him, “The words hang in the air in that constipated way they do when you know that you shouldn’t have said them.” Waldo frequently lists emotions and adjectives in triplicate, and events that could be significant aren’t sufficiently explored or given enough space to breathe before the novel races on to the next thing.
A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593723739
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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