A quiet, conversational late-in-life love story.
High school sweethearts reconnect six decades later in Bennett’s contemporary romance.
Ace Sinclair and J’nelle Reade, both in their 70s, dated in high school but haven’t seen each other in years. They’ve bothlost their spouses; his wife died some years ago, and her husband went missing in Alaska. After a long email exchange, J’nelle flies in from New York City to visit Ace at his beach house in North Carolina's Outer Banks. As they catch up, J’nelle confesses that she secretly had an affair with a married teacher while they were dating in high school. He forgives her, however, and soon they’re sharing stories about their children and spouses. J’nelle confesses that she got back in touch with him because she wants to “Search for the truth. About us, about each other, about ourselves.” She urges Ace to join her in her quest, and he reluctantly agrees. Over the next few days, they visit the beach, go out to dinner, and talk about the past and present. They discuss religion, Ace’s service in Vietnam, and parts of their pasts that they aren’t proud of; meanwhile, a hurricane bears down on North Carolina. Things soon turn romantic, and as the storm gets closer, they have to decide if they’ll head to their homes in safer places or ride out the storm together. Most of Bennett’s novel consists of Ace and J’nelle’s dialogue as they explore their pasts, and as such, it reads a bit like a play, with lovely and expressive exchanges throughout. The book explores a number of intriguing themes, such as aging, how to move on from trauma, how to pursue love late in life, and whether it’s better to forget the past or use it to make change in the future. As each character faces their own mortality—both are expecting the results of medical tests that could be devastating, and the hurricane picks up speed and intensity as it approaches—they try to come to terms with the events of their lives. Overall, it makes for a nice, contemplative read.
A quiet, conversational late-in-life love story.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-73-368169-8
Page Count: 222
Publisher: Lystra Books & Literary Services, LLC
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Light on plot and heavy on bolstering traditional gender norms as the ultimate goal for both men and women.
A Seattle woman meets a Chicago businessman as she flies home from a visit to a friend, and her small act of kindness blossoms into more.
Maisy Gallagher is barely making ends meet. With her father’s unexpected death a few years earlier, she dropped out of nursing school to help out in the family’s jewelry store, working with her uncle. Her older brother, Sean, also moved back home so he and Maisy could help their mother and their 10-year-old brother, Patrick. When Maisy offers a ride to a rude businessman who sat next to her on the plane, she’s just operating on the kindness her grandmother instilled in her. That businessman, Chase Furst, turns out to be an incredibly wealthy banker; he’s flown into Seattle to make funeral arrangements for his mother, to whom he hasn’t spoken in years. Sparks fly in this gentle and predictable romance that leans heavily on long-distance and class-divide tropes. As with many of the author’s books, Christianity and the characters’ reliance on God’s will—as they wait and see what happens next—play a large part, as do traditional gender roles where women cook, clean, and only work in paying jobs until they have children at home to take care of. The author does offer a lighter touch when it comes to the painful ways alcoholism can destroy family relationships, with an understanding of the regret that can weigh on every family member.
Light on plot and heavy on bolstering traditional gender norms as the ultimate goal for both men and women.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9798217091676
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
