A lively and enjoyable installment of a supernatural Regency series with a charismatic cast.
In this romance, sparks fly between a sultry English lord and a feisty American heiress.
This third installment of Sumner’s League of Lords series, following The Rake Is Taken (2020), continues the story of a collection of Regency era characters united by the fact that each of them possesses some kind of supernatural power. In this volume, the lord in question is Sebastian Tremont, the Duke of Ashcroft, whose nickname, “Fireball,” notes his ability to start blazes at will. He intends to marry another member of the league, but when he encounters American heiress Delaney Temple, neither can deny the attraction between them, though in tried-and-true Regency romance fashion, they both fight that magnetism for a large chunk of the narrative. The tale is filled with layers and twists that are expertly paced but will certainly reward reading this book only after the two preceding volumes. Delaney and her twin brother are hiding secrets that will catch up to them in the course of the narrative, with the author skillfully revealing their story in a series of carefully timed, exciting disclosures. Sumner also deftly explores the book’s deeper themes about dealing with being different, a fleshing out of how society’s outcasts can find connections with other outsiders. The addition of Delaney to the saga allows the author to work in quite a bit of culture-clash moments since the novel’s tempestuous American has little reverence for ancient British traditions. The tale is filled with snappy dialogue and well-developed characters, although Sumner can sometimes fall back on the overheated prose that is often found in the genre: “Sebastian scratched at the dense stubble on his jaw and studied her, this intriguing creature. Here he was, making outrageously lewd comments, ones he’d never make to a woman of his station, and Delaney wasn’t running from the room.” Regency fans will take that in stride and savor the romantic fireworks.
A lively and enjoyable installment of a supernatural Regency series with a charismatic cast.Pub Date: March 10, 2021
ISBN: 979-8-71-712051-7
Page Count: 258
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: March 20, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A powerfully strong romance for readers who like their love stories full of torment and passion.
Best friends confront feelings for each other when they take a honeymoon trip together.
Francesca Gardiner and George Saint James have always been best friends—just like Jo and Laurie from Little Women, which they both love. Frankie has a big, complicated family and George was the boy next door who’d moved in with his eccentric grandmother. Their friendship survived childhood, awkward teenage years, and living together as young adults without ever venturing into the romantic—well, except for one kiss, but they don’t talk about that. When Frankie gets engaged to an older professor named Nate, George isn’t happy and a huge fight ensues. Despite his misgivings, George shows up to be her best man, but Nate leaves Frankie right before the wedding with only a cryptic letter. Devastated, Frankie goes to a friend’s house to recuperate, but her honeymoon is already planned and paid for—so she decides to travel to Tofino, a picturesque town on the coast of Vancouver Island, with George taking Nate’s place. Frankie wants to fix her friendship with George, but now that they’re in a romantic suite in a beautiful location, things are more complicated than ever. She’d always thought a relationship would be a bad idea, but she’s slowly beginning to realize they’ll never be able to go back to being kids. Maybe the only way forward involves forging a new kind of relationship. Fortune, the author of romances like This Summer Will Be Different (2024), returns with another love story full of longing and intense angst. The many allusions to Little Women are charming, and Frankie is a delightfully headstrong, feisty character. She and George have explosive chemistry, and Fortune manages to make the “will-they-or-won’t-they” nature of their relationship feel like life-or-death stakes.
A powerfully strong romance for readers who like their love stories full of torment and passion.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9780593953242
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fun, positively frothy friends-to-lovers romance.
While on her sister’s wedding cruise, a woman enlists her childhood best friend for help as she attempts to woo her longtime crush.
JoJo Burton is bad at love. After she leaves her terrible fiancé, Pearce Richmond, at the altar, she’s convinced she might never settle down. But during her sister’s wedding, which is being held on an eight-day cruise to the Bahamas and Cozumel, she and her family concoct a plan that will help her seduce her recently divorced childhood crush, Finn Turner. The two of them once shared a blindfolded kiss that might have ruined JoJo for all other men, and she’s never forgotten it. But then JoJo’s best friend, Cooper Watts, shows up. Cooper and JoJo were inseparable as children but didn’t talk for years after she got engaged to Pearce. She doesn’t know why he suddenly disappeared on her, but it doesn’t matter—he’s here now, and she needs him to help her get Finn to reenact that long-ago kiss. But after she and Cooper share a cabin, get thrown together for every wedding week activity, and even engage in the classic friendly flirting meant to make another man jealous, JoJo starts to realize that Finn might not be the man she’s been waiting for, after all. Center keeps things light, focusing on humor even when the subject matter veers into family drama. JoJo and Cooper find themselves caught up in the sort of tropes that are catnip for romance fans—he takes care of her when she has a sunburn, for instance, and they participate in a slow-dance contest. As Center reveals in an author’s note at the beginning, “Spoiler: This book will end well.” The destination may not be a surprise, but the journey is a delight.
A fun, positively frothy friends-to-lovers romance.Pub Date: May 19, 2026
ISBN: 9781250408051
Page Count: 336
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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