A terrific romance highlights the struggles and triumphs of midlife characters.
A sports reporter’s new glasses help her see the world in a new way.
Tanika Ryan hit 40 and was demoted from the crown jewel of sports gigs, Thursday Night Football. Tanika knows ageism and colorism are at the root of the decision; the new reporter is a beautiful young woman who knows nothing about sports or journalism. Her boss makes it clear that if Tanika doesn’t help train her on-air replacement, she’ll lose the opportunity to be named VP of Programming for the whole network, a powerful behind-the-scenes role that she covets. To make matters worse, Tanika has no choice but to get glasses after years of ignoring her deteriorating vision. Optometrist Gideon Miles is working to revive his practice, having neglected the business after losing his wife to cancer. Tanika and Gideon have instant chemistry and he asks her out, but she demurs due to her extensive and exhausting travel schedule. When Tanika’s new glasses arrive, they allow her to see people’s auras. It’s a charming, mystical element that reaffirms Tanika’s ability to judge the intentions of those around her. Over the next few weeks, Gideon and Tanika develop a flirty friendship via text. Tanika interviews a series of unconventional athletes, a young hotshot F1 driver and a sexy older rodeo star, who make it clear they’re interested in romancing her—but they aren’t nearly as appealing or captivating as the handsome optometrist back home in Atlanta. Richardson’s novel is laugh-out-loud funny while still being a poignant exploration of the way people navigate the personal and professional challenges of midlife. Tanika and Gideon’s romance is a masterclass in creating characters who struggle with life’s disappointments while still being playful and sexy.
A terrific romance highlights the struggles and triumphs of midlife characters.Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9781955905817
Page Count: 306
Publisher: Generous Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
Light on plot and heavy on bolstering traditional gender norms as the ultimate goal for both men and women.
A Seattle woman meets a Chicago businessman as she flies home from a visit to a friend, and her small act of kindness blossoms into more.
Maisy Gallagher is barely making ends meet. With her father’s unexpected death a few years earlier, she dropped out of nursing school to help out in the family’s jewelry store, working with her uncle. Her older brother, Sean, also moved back home so he and Maisy could help their mother and their 10-year-old brother, Patrick. When Maisy offers a ride to a rude businessman who sat next to her on the plane, she’s just operating on the kindness her grandmother instilled in her. That businessman, Chase Furst, turns out to be an incredibly wealthy banker; he’s flown into Seattle to make funeral arrangements for his mother, to whom he hasn’t spoken in years. Sparks fly in this gentle and predictable romance that leans heavily on long-distance and class-divide tropes. As with many of the author’s books, Christianity and the characters’ reliance on God’s will—as they wait and see what happens next—play a large part, as do traditional gender roles where women cook, clean, and only work in paying jobs until they have children at home to take care of. The author does offer a lighter touch when it comes to the painful ways alcoholism can destroy family relationships, with an understanding of the regret that can weigh on every family member.
Light on plot and heavy on bolstering traditional gender norms as the ultimate goal for both men and women.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9798217091676
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
A romance that could have used significant rethinking.
Childhood friends, almost-sweethearts, a misunderstanding, and a funeral.
Blair Lang and Declan Renshaw were best friends who went on one date before a disagreement and an accident sent them in different directions after high school. Now Blair is back from college to be with her great-aunt Lottie, who’s dying, and to support her single mother in small-town Seabrook, California. Finding a job at a coffee shop puts her in the path of her former boyfriend, since he turns out to be its owner. Can the two get past their mistakes? The novel uses the popular second-chance romance trope, but Pham fails to energize it through interesting characters. Blair’s grief over her great-aunt’s death and her plan to help her mother are overshadowed by internal monologues about her feelings, the way her friends aren’t paying attention to her, and the novel she plans to write. Declan’s distinguishing characteristic, besides being a former high school quarterback, is his skill at building birdhouses. Unsurprisingly, the couple doesn’t have much chemistry; when they embrace, their “bodies meld like…memory foam.” The wooden characters, unusual word choices (“conglomerate of pedestrians,” “litany of plants”), and odd turns of phrase (“tension melting from his eyebrows like butter melting in a warm pan”) are almost enough to obscure the lack of plot development. What passes for stakes is easily defused when Blair comes into an inheritance that saves her from working as a consultant at Ernst & Young in New York—so she can write a romance novel.
A romance that could have used significant rethinking.Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781668095188
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
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