Readers will no doubt chant for an encore.
The Lillys return in this follow-up to The Girl With Stars in Her Eyes (2021), with new romance and more music-industry drama.
Ever since Kayla Whitman’s older brother, Zach, handed her a pair of sticks and encouraged her to play, she’s never felt more herself than she does behind a drum set. But having been born Katherine Yolanda Larrington, daughter of celebrated academics Geoffrey and Gisele Larrington, comes with a lifetime of high expectations. Kayla knows that her life as a college dropout who’s the drummer for up-and-coming rock band the Lillys would never meet her mother’s exacting standards, so she’s decided to keep her two lives—in one, the dutiful daughter; in the other, following in her late brother’s footsteps as a touring musician—entirely separate. Tyrell Baldwin also understands something about not living up to expectations. Barely coping with the fallout of having been kicked out of school after false accusations of plagiarism and assault ruined his chances at an academic career, Ty is living at home with his grandfather when he’s offered a job as a tour bus driver for the Lillys. When Kayla and Ty bond over a shared love of books, their connection quickly turns romantic. But as the Lillys’ star continues to rise, media scrutiny follows, and both Kayla’s and Ty’s pasts are put under a spotlight. And they’ll have to decide whether to wilt or grow in its glare. The author tackles a lot in this sequel—including weighty topics such as death, grief, microaggressions, racial profiling, and false imprisonment—which sometimes results in tonal whiplash. But the characters are compelling and richly drawn, and the text smartly leans more on sharp dialogue in this installment.
Readers will no doubt chant for an encore.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728261997
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
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
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