Too muddled in its attempt to balance several genres and tones.
The new Duke of Foxglen seeks the assistance of a coffeehouse proprietress to locate his long-lost mother and sister.
Eoin Aucourte was taken from his Irish working-class mother at a young age to be raised by his demanding paternal grandfather so he could be groomed into the perfect heir to the dukedom. He quickly learned how to hide his own emotions while being extra perceptive of others’. Now that his grandfather has died, Eoin is determined to reunite with the rest of his family—he just has to find them first. Hannah Wick, daughter of a pirate and co-owner of the Black Sheep Coffeehouse, is no stranger to solving mysteries. Eoin asks for her help, unaware of a dark shared history between their families and Hannah’s desire for revenge. Keeping her true motives secret, Hannah suggests she pose as his mistress in order to get access to his paternal aunts and uncles and try to ferret information about his mother out of them. Though Eoin and Hannah’s search becomes more complicated than they expected, they find they enjoy each other’s company and have to balance a growing attraction with increasingly dangerous situations. Fans of Marsh’s previous tales featuring the Black Sheep will welcome the return of beloved characters, but this installment never fully coalesces. Eoin and Hannah are charming characters, but the story relies on repeated descriptions of various traits—Eoin is physically large, stoic, and perceptive; Hannah is conflicted about the secrets she’s keeping from him—rather than giving them deeper insight or growth. Plot points specific to the Georgian era, such as Eoin’s father having been a reformer who tried to overthrow King George, are compelling yet feel under-explored. Although the mystery adds exciting stakes, Eoin and Hannah’s failure to piece together some of the answers more quickly strains belief. There’s too much going on in this story without any part making a lasting impression.
Too muddled in its attempt to balance several genres and tones.Pub Date: March 17, 2026
ISBN: 9781538739662
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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