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
Categories: ROMANCE | GENERAL ROMANCE | GENERAL FICTION | CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
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Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
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The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
Categories: ROMANCE | CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE | GENERAL ROMANCE | GENERAL FICTION
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
185
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Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
Categories: GENERAL ROMANCE | ROMANCE | CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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