The emotional depths of this steamy romance will catch you by surprise.
A modern-day marriage of convenience resurrects old feelings between a burlesque-club owner and a baseball catcher.
Madden Donahue has only had eyes for Eve Keller since their paths first crossed back in high school in Rhode Island. In their youth, he was her self-designated protector, defending her against small-minded bullies who subjected her to relentless teasing about her dad’s strip-club business. Though she was the town’s punching bag, Eve eventually decided to embrace her heritage, taking over the club once she was old enough and turning it into a classier burlesque joint. Recently, however, Eve’s life has been turned upside down by two new arrivals—her niece and nephew are living with her while her sister spends some time in rehab. Keeping the burlesque club afloat is hard enough, but having two more mouths to feed is putting Eve’s bank account under major strain. Then, when Madden is signed as a catcher for the New York Yankees, he comes to Eve with a surprising suggestion: Marry him for access to his health insurance, so she and the kids will be taken care of. Despite the fact that Eve has secretly reciprocated Madden’s feelings for a long time, she only agrees to his proposal on the condition that their marriage stay a secret—and that they dissolve it after six months when the kids go back home. Now that Madden can finally call Eve his wife, however, he’s not about to let her slip through his fingers, but the clock is ticking on how long he’ll have to convince her that this marriage isn’t just for convenience’s sake. Bailey’s latest contemporary is brimming over with the spice and dirty talk that have become her trademarks, but Eve and Madden’s road to romance is a quieter, more emotional one than usual for her, rooted in internal dilemmas rather than external obstacles. There’s no question about whether these two will figure it out, and that assurance carries through the narrative, resulting in a breezy, low-stakes, yet surprisingly poignant read.
The emotional depths of this steamy romance will catch you by surprise.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780063380882
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 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
Two hot people confronting their trauma, making passionate love, and solving violent crimes! ’Nuff said.
A heartbroken man lusts after his therapist while seeking revenge on a drug kingpin and his enforcer.
Mitch Haskell’s wife, Angela, died two years ago of an apparent suicide, but Mitch has always believed the scene was staged. Certainly, she would never have willingly left their young son, Andrew, behind. Consumed with a thirst for vengeance, Mitch—a former Marine and undercover agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration and currently a police detective—is struggling with alcohol dependency and uncontrolled rage. Andrew is living with his in-laws, who are making not-so-subtle suggestions that they might apply for permanent guardianship if Mitch can’t get it together. So his boss and best friend, John Bowie, mandates that he go into therapy, which puts him in the path of sexy Dr. Dylan Reede. Within a few days, Mitch makes a connection between two new murders and the death of his former partner; finds a big clue that points to the truth about Angela’s death; goes undercover as a homeless man; takes on a vicious drug cartel; and obnoxiously bullies Dylan with a charm offensive that leads them inevitably to bed. While Mitch seems to lean into the stereotype of the ex-soldier/cop with deeply buried trauma who believes that the ends justify the means—at least in law enforcement—Dylan offers the strength and sweetness to help him start breaking down his walls, allowing herself to be vulnerable in turn. Is passionate sex enough to ground a relationship and a family for the long term? For these characters, and the breakneck speed of this thriller, it’s as good a foundation as any.
Two hot people confronting their trauma, making passionate love, and solving violent crimes! ’Nuff said.Pub Date: March 17, 2026
ISBN: 9781538743027
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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