A promising novel that's hampered by banal details.
A Dominican American woman tries to navigate a career, romance, and self-love while living with a supernatural ancestral secret.
Larimar Cintrón is just like any other “totally average” 34-year-old. She loves ska music, and she’s gunning for a promotion at Beacon Foods, the corporate bakery chain where she works. Yet there’s one small factor that sets the Cintrón women apart from other residents of Roselle Park, New Jersey—on the full moon, they transform into ciguapas. Straight out of Dominican folklore, Larimar, her mother, and grandmother bear backward-facing feet, long, straight hair, and impossible speed. In order to maintain a “normal” life, Larimar opts for floor-length skirts and minimal dating, especially since her last boyfriend ran away screaming after witnessing her transformation. But when her best friend, Brynne, introduces Larimar to the gentle-hearted Army vet Raymond Antonio Concepción, Larimar immediately feels weak in the knees. Ray owns a local mom-and-pop bakery called Borrachitos, which is slightly problematic given that Larimar is supposed to be breaking ground on a new Beacon location across from his small business. As Larimar begins to fall for Ray, she concocts a lie about her job in order to find more time to save his bakery and still score her promotion. However, Larimar soon realizes that in more ways than one, she may never be able to fully reveal her true self. Santos’ second novel offers a unique spin on a Dominican myth, presenting a ciguapa as someone who longs for love and security rather than a “siren-like” creature who lures men to their deaths. Although the concept of a modern-day ciguapa is intriguing, Santos’ story lacks excitement and often spends too much time on mundane details such as descriptions of clothing, food orders, or Larimar’s visit to South Jersey Stone and Tile. Pages of cupcake recipes also feel unnecessary, and at times Larimar’s work troubles and the semisupernatural ciguapa storyline feel like two disconnected novels.
A promising novel that's hampered by banal details.Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-315-903-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.
A love story about a life of second chances.
In Nassau, in the Bahamas, casino detective Vincent LaPorta grills Alfie Logan, who’d come up a winner three times in a row at the roulette table and walked away with $2 million. “How did you do it?” asks the detective. Alfie calmly denies cheating. You wired all the money to a Gianna Rule, LaPorta says. Why? To explain, Alfie produces a composition book with the words “For the Boss, to Be Read Upon My Death” written on the cover. Read this for answers, Alfie suggests, calling it a love story. His mother had passed along to him a strange trait: He can say “Twice!” and go back to a specific time and place to have a do-over. But it only works once for any particular moment, and then he must live with the new consequences. He can only do this for himself and can’t prevent anyone from dying. Alfie regularly uses his power—failing to impress a girl the first time, he finds out more about her, goes back in time, and presto! She likes him. The premise is of course not credible—LaPorta doesn’t buy it either—but it’s intriguing. Most people would probably love to go back and unsay something. The story’s focus is on Alfie’s love for Gianna and whether it’s requited, unrequited, or both. In any case, he’s obsessed with her. He’s a good man, though, an intelligent person with ordinary human failings and a solid moral compass. Albom writes in a warm, easy style that transports the reader to a world of second chances and what-ifs, where spirituality lies close to the surface but never intrudes on the story. Though a cynic will call it sappy, anyone who is sick to their core from the daily news will enjoy this escape from reality.
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780062406682
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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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