A romance that starts sweet but quickly sours because of an unpleasant hero.
A friends-to-lovers contemporary romance set in sunny and steamy Pensacola, Florida.
It’s Zoe Hart’s 29th birthday, and she’s rather upset her virginity is still intact. She owns a coffee shop in her best friend Dylan Jackson’s Florida resort, and through their years and years of friendship, she’s gotten no closer to becoming more than a confidante to him. But her employee and friend Dana Anders has made it her personal mission to get Zoe out of the friend zone and into Dylan’s bed by the time she hits 30. The first thing on the agenda: a makeover, where Zoe trades her coffee-stained polos and sensible ponytail for more form-fitting clothing and some product in her thick, wavy hair. Her new look confuses Dylan at first, since he's unused to seeing Zoe in anything other than khakis, but he finds himself taking more than a second glance at the woman who’s always been there, unnoticed. As Zoe fills up her social calendar, no longer at Dylan’s beck and call to fill any gaps in his busy schedule, Dylan realizes his attachment to Zoe is more than platonic. There’s an awful lot of dialogue among Zoe, Dylan, and the secondary cast of meddling characters. Everything is always being explained rather than shown through details or a character’s introspection, and the constant talking can make the romantic progression feel glacially slow. Dylan’s characterization also borders on the misogynistic, as he seems personally affronted when Zoe begins to take more pride in her appearance and when she doesn't return one of his text messages within the hour. His sense of entitlement to his friend’s time overshadows any romantic feelings blossoming between him and Zoe.
A romance that starts sweet but quickly sours because of an unpleasant hero.Pub Date: July 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-58322-3
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
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
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable...
An unlucky woman finally gets lucky in love on an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii.
From getting her hand stuck in a claw machine at age 6 to losing her job, Olive Torres has never felt that luck was on her side. But her fortune changes when she scores a free vacation after her identical twin sister and new brother-in-law get food poisoning at their wedding buffet and are too sick to go on their honeymoon. The only catch is that she’ll have to share the honeymoon suite with her least favorite person—Ethan Thomas, the brother of the groom. To make matters worse, Olive’s new boss and Ethan’s ex-girlfriend show up in Hawaii, forcing them both to pretend to be newlyweds so they don’t blow their cover, as their all-inclusive vacation package is nontransferable and in her sister’s name. Plus, Ethan really wants to save face in front of his ex. The story is told almost exclusively from Olive’s point of view, filtering all communication through her cynical lens until Ethan can win her over (and finally have his say in the epilogue). To get to the happily-ever-after, Ethan doesn’t have to prove to Olive that he can be a better man, only that he was never the jerk she thought he was—for instance, when she thought he was judging her for eating cheese curds, maybe he was actually thinking of asking her out. Blending witty banter with healthy adult communication, the fake newlyweds have real chemistry as they talk it out over snorkeling trips, couples massages, and a few too many tropical drinks to get to the truth—that they’re crazy about each other.
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable as well as free.Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2803-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
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