A touching adventure full of laughs, tender moments, and a ton of not-so-baby bumps in the road.
Two expectant parents embark on a road trip full of twists and turns in hopes of reconnecting before their baby arrives.
In six weeks, Biz Petterelli and Wyatt Wallace will be fathers, though they’ve been feeling light-years apart. The two Brooklyn men are preparing for a cross-country babymoon that will hit all the best gay resort destinations: Provincetown, Palm Springs, the works. From there, they’ll head to Baker, California, in time to join their surrogate, Flora, as she welcomes their little one to the world...just as long as they follow Wyatt’s strictly detailed itinerary. Wyatt has always been a planner and is, in a way, overcompensating for his own absentee father by leaving no spreadsheet, mood board, or newborn checklist unturned. For Biz, this vacation is a last hurrah; lately, he’s been feeling completely freaked about being a dad. Both Biz and Wyatt skirt around communicating their parenting worries, leaving them not only distant from each other, but constantly on edge. It doesn’t help that once they set off on their trip, their resort plans are dashed in one fell swoop. Biz receives an email that he’s been laid off, and Wyatt gets a call from his mom urging him to come home. In their 1992 Volkswagen convertible, Wyatt and Biz rearrange their destinations, stopping to meet family, old friends, and an interesting stranger or two, and to let their dog, Matilda, puke on the side of the road when she pleases. As Wyatt and Biz reflect on their pasts, learn family secrets, and reminisce about their relationship milestones, each road-trip roadblock reminds them of what their future holds—and what they’ll be missing if they don’t fight for it. Karger’s second novel is a heartwarming, comedic journey of two partners finding each other again. The author creates meaningful connections not only between Wyatt and Biz, but between the couple and every character they meet, weaving a road trip of a lifetime with hints of nostalgia, hope, and acceptance.
A touching adventure full of laughs, tender moments, and a ton of not-so-baby bumps in the road.Pub Date: May 21, 2024
ISBN: 9780593439500
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.
A love story about a life of second chances.
In Nassau, in the Bahamas, casino detective Vincent LaPorta grills Alfie Logan, who’d come up a winner three times in a row at the roulette table and walked away with $2 million. “How did you do it?” asks the detective. Alfie calmly denies cheating. You wired all the money to a Gianna Rule, LaPorta says. Why? To explain, Alfie produces a composition book with the words “For the Boss, to Be Read Upon My Death” written on the cover. Read this for answers, Alfie suggests, calling it a love story. His mother had passed along to him a strange trait: He can say “Twice!” and go back to a specific time and place to have a do-over. But it only works once for any particular moment, and then he must live with the new consequences. He can only do this for himself and can’t prevent anyone from dying. Alfie regularly uses his power—failing to impress a girl the first time, he finds out more about her, goes back in time, and presto! She likes him. The premise is of course not credible—LaPorta doesn’t buy it either—but it’s intriguing. Most people would probably love to go back and unsay something. The story’s focus is on Alfie’s love for Gianna and whether it’s requited, unrequited, or both. In any case, he’s obsessed with her. He’s a good man, though, an intelligent person with ordinary human failings and a solid moral compass. Albom writes in a warm, easy style that transports the reader to a world of second chances and what-ifs, where spirituality lies close to the surface but never intrudes on the story. Though a cynic will call it sappy, anyone who is sick to their core from the daily news will enjoy this escape from reality.
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780062406682
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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