This raucous and riveting romance is Voskuni’s best yet.
A wedding planner and a winery owner reluctantly team up to plan their mutual ex’s dream wedding.
Ani Avakian quit her job to follow her dream of becoming the Bay Area’s most successful Armenian wedding planner, but her career is off to a rocky start. With overdraft fees looming, she agrees to take on the wedding of an up-and-coming indie movie star, Grace, who’d already lined up an Armenian-owned winery as the venue. At first, Ani is excited to work with someone who shares her heritage, but she and the winery’s owner, Raffi Garabedian, get off on the wrong foot. Ani’s heard stories about Raffi’s reputation as a love ’em and leave ’em type, while Raffi is too tongue-tied to address her preconceived notions. Then Ani’s in for shock when it turns out that Grace’s fiancée is Kami, the woman who broke her heart two years ago, and that’s not even the worst part. Apparently, Ani’s ex-girlfriend Kami is also Raffi’s ex-girlfriend Kami. Wedding planner and winery owner are beyond surprised to discover they have similar tastes in women, but there’s no time to be rattled about the revelation because they need to work together to make sure this wedding goes off without a hitch. That means having meetings about where to hold the ceremony, where to install the fountain Kami wants, what flowers to use to capture the color scheme, you name it. The more time Ani and Raffi are forced to spend in each other’s company, the more they suspect the tension between them is rooted in something more complicated than mere dislike, but they’ll have to prioritize professionalism over personal feelings to give their ex the wedding of her dreams. Voskuni returns to the same winning blend of humor, romance, and culture that made her debut, Sorry, Bro (2023), so unputdownable, and her latest feels like a natural evolution of all her best traits as a writer. With sparkling chemistry, plenty of nods to classic rom-coms, and a welcome dose of spice, the end result is a slow-burn love story that heats up at the perfect moment.
This raucous and riveting romance is Voskuni’s best yet.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593953648
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A charming love story that absolutely radiates warmth.
A single mom winds up fake dating an incredibly wealthy man in her hometown.
Dolly Brick is back in her hometown of Whitfield, Rhode Island, for the summer to help her dad and disabled brother manage their house and family business. As a 39-year-old single mother with multiple jobs—which now include working at the Brick Fish House—Dolly is always busy. When her mom left their family years ago, Dolly took over caring for her siblings and father and never really stopped. When she runs into Stewart Whitfield after making a shrimp delivery to his family’s mansion, she doesn’t think they could be more different. She’s had to figure out how to do everything by herself, and he can’t even change a tire. That’s why Stewart’s proposal that she pretend to be his girlfriend feels so unbelievable—but it comes with a hefty check that she desperately needs for home repairs. So she becomes the fake girlfriend of Stewart Whitfield (as in, the Whitfields her town is named after; his real fiancée just dumped him and it’s a bad time for him to be single) and experiences what it’s like to walk into fancy buildings through the front door instead of the service entrance. More than the boats and helicopter and expensive dinners, though, Dolly is impressed by what a kind man Stewart is—and how it feels to let someone else take care of her for a change. Soon, their relationship starts to feel more real than fake. Monaghan creates an impossibly winning story with a charming, lovable heroine. Dolly is capable, hardworking, and will do anything for the people she loves. She and Stewart both possess real flaws, and while their relationship begins with one of the most beloved rom-com tropes, their challenges feel like realistic adult obstacles rather than easily solved miscommunications. It’s also refreshing that, even though Dolly must learn to allow other people to help her, she never views her caretaking responsibilities as burdens. She deeply loves her family, and that love carries through the entire story.
A charming love story that absolutely radiates warmth.Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9780593853979
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
A deliciously dramatic look at how one woman’s past influences her future.
A happily engaged woman is pulled back to her hometown—and her first love—when tragedy strikes.
Billie Wright is living her dream, running a thriving fertility clinic in New York City and engaged to a wonderful trauma surgeon named Dean. Her happily-ever-after meant giving up her life in Wisconsin, where she left behind many friends as well as her high school sweetheart, Mick. Although they’d been deeply in love, when Billie’s ambition pulled her away from home and toward the city, Mick couldn’t handle either the distance or her busy schedule. Billie has finally moved on from that heartbreak—but then she receives a phone call from Mick, the first communication between them in years. Her best friend, Erin, died in a car accident, leaving behind an 11-year-old daughter, Phoebe. Now Billie must return home to help sort Erin’s affairs and provide some kind of comfort to Phoebe while grieving the loss of her best friend. Of course, being back home also means being in close contact with Mick. Their feelings for each other may not have ever gone away, and their proximity leads to big decisions for Billie. Can she ever reconcile her current life in Manhattan with her past in Wisconsin? And which one will be her future? Giffin knows how to do drama, and she ratchets up the stakes with every page as she continues to reveal new obstacles for Billie. The ending wraps up quite neatly, but the nostalgia-filled ride is full of twists and turns that will keep readers flipping the pages.
A deliciously dramatic look at how one woman’s past influences her future.Pub Date: July 7, 2026
ISBN: 9780593600320
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
SEEN & HEARD
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