An enjoyable if sometimes well-worn take on the self discovery/recovery novel.
A woman whose past is clouded by personal trauma tries to reinvent herself as a home-decluttering guru but quickly discovers the life in need of a deep clean may be her own.
Thirty-seven-year-old Stevie Green loves organizing “for the same reason that [she] loves vacuuming: immediate, tangible results, which [are] so unlike the slow, mysterious shifts of the internal self.” And over the past six months, she’s undergone many of the latter: finally getting sober; returning to her hometown of La Jolla and moving close to her mother; starting a burgeoning organization-and-personal-reinvention service; and gradually beginning to recover from a debilitating car accident. But the trajectory of her life is unceremoniously rocked by the arrival of Bonnie, her free-spirited younger sister—their relationship’s always been marked by an uncrossable rift—who is reeling from a recent breakup, and then a chance run-in with her estranged high school best friend, Chris. At her mother’s prodding, Stevie reluctantly takes Bonnie on as an assistant, and the two become a well-oiled team, helping each of their semidirectionless clients cast off unnecessary possessions “holding [them] back and weighing [them] down.” All the while, artifacts from Stevie’s own past keep snaking back into her life; she quickly learns how frustratingly slowly personal growth occurs and must reckon with the past’s tenacious grip on her life before she can make changes. Huntley has constructed a compelling protagonist who oscillates between obliviousness and excruciating self-awareness, building a complex internal landscape and allowing readers a layered understanding of Stevie's eventual personal evolution. The book is primarily narrated by Stevie, with shorter sections told from the perspectives of other characters. Stevie’s sections are by far the strongest; in general, some of the ancillary characters feel half-baked or cartoonish (Bonnie’s California surfer-girl dialect in particular becomes grating). Though the plot unspools in a somewhat unsurprising way and its emphasis on self-discovery can be heavy-handed, its core is animated by genuine emotional resonance—plus a thoughtful exploration of addiction, anxiety about sexual identity, and the ways family bonds shift in adulthood.
An enjoyable if sometimes well-worn take on the self discovery/recovery novel.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-9821-5962-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2021
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 dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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