A heartwarming and nuanced second-chance love story.
Longtime friends navigate the tricky waters of love in this contemporary romance.
Juliet “Jules” Branch Bartlett is a fiercely independent mother who works as a commercial fishing captain in her hometown of Bodega Bay, California, where she lives with her parents and 11-year-old daughter, Bella. Six years earlier, Jules left her philandering husband, Wayne Bartlett III, and returned to Bodega Bay to build a new life for herself and her child. She has the support of her parents, siblings, and longtime family friend Tyler Pace, a wealthy entrepreneur and the business partner of Jules’ brother, Drake. Tyler and his younger brother, Dylan, had a childhood marked by poverty, during which their mother abandoned them. Tyler maintains a residence in San Francisco but returned to Bodega Bay to care for his alcoholic father and help him recover from a devastating accident. Although Tyler’s in love with Jules, she keeps him at arm’s length, wary of getting involved with someone whom she sees as a smooth-talking charmer. But when they both attend the same wedding, it leads to a night of passion, and Jules and Tyler must decide if true love is worth the risk. Ewens presents a briskly paced romance with colorful, well-developed characters. It also expertly balances the lighthearted aspects of Jules’ and Tyler’s relationship with the serious issues they both face. Both are amiable people whose friendship is punctuated by witty and playful banter (“You’re never late,” Jules says to Tyler at one point. “Someone tied to the railroad tracks or trapped in a school bus?”), which allows Ewens to showcase her sharp prose, as when Jules hopes that Tyler will “say something obnoxious to distract her from the fact that he smelled particularly delicious today.” Their relationship unfolds gradually, giving the author plenty of space to explore the characters’ history from grade school to the present. Overall, the storytelling is dynamic and multilayered, including subplots involving Jules’ former husband, Wayne (whose wedding the main characters attend), and Tyler’s troubled dad, and Ewens handles it all with a high degree of sensitivity and empathy.
A heartwarming and nuanced second-chance love story.Pub Date: June 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73232-165-6
Page Count: 332
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A warm and winning "When Harry Met Sally…" update that hits all the perfect notes.
A travel writer has one last shot at reconnecting with the best friend she just might be in love with.
Poppy and Alex couldn't be more different. She loves wearing bright colors while he prefers khakis and a T-shirt. She likes just about everything while he’s a bit more discerning. And yet, their opposites-attract friendship works because they love each other…in a totally platonic way. Probably. Even though they have their own separate lives (Poppy lives in New York City and is a travel writer with a popular Instagram account; Alex is a high school teacher in their tiny Ohio hometown), they still manage to get together each summer for one fabulous vacation. They grow closer every year, but Poppy doesn’t let herself linger on her feelings for Alex—she doesn’t want to ruin their friendship or the way she can be fully herself with him. They continue to date other people, even bringing their serious partners on their summer vacations…but then, after a falling-out, they stop speaking. When Poppy finds herself facing a serious bout of ennui, unhappy with her glamorous job and the life she’s been dreaming of forever, she thinks back to the last time she was truly happy: her last vacation with Alex. And so, though they haven’t spoken in two years, she asks him to take another vacation with her. She’s determined to bridge the gap that’s formed between them and become best friends again, but to do that, she’ll have to be honest with Alex—and herself—about her true feelings. In chapters that jump around in time, Henry shows readers the progression (and dissolution) of Poppy and Alex’s friendship. Their slow-burn love story hits on beloved romance tropes (such as there unexpectedly being only one bed on the reconciliation trip Poppy plans) while still feeling entirely fresh. Henry’s biggest strength is in the sparkling, often laugh-out-loud-funny dialogue, particularly the banter-filled conversations between Poppy and Alex. But there’s depth to the story, too—Poppy’s feeling of dissatisfaction with a life that should be making her happy as well as her unresolved feelings toward the difficult parts of her childhood make her a sympathetic and relatable character. The end result is a story that pays homage to classic romantic comedies while having a point of view all its own.
A warm and winning "When Harry Met Sally…" update that hits all the perfect notes.Pub Date: May 11, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0675-8
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
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