A tad slow to develop but with a winning heroine.
A young Muslim woman looks for love the traditional way in her hometown of Sydney.
Twenty-seven-year-old Samira Abdel-Aziz is tired of “door-knock appeals”—the Muslim courtship ritual in which she and her family entertain a suitor and his family to see if there’s a connection. So far, for Samira, there hasn’t been. She’s also unhappy at her job as an editorial assistant at Bridal Bazaar magazine. On an outdoor team-building excursion, she meets Menem, a handsome blond man who happens to be Muslim as well. The two hit it off and are soon texting and “accidentally” running into each other at the coffee shop near their respective workplaces—this being a loophole to the classic rules of courtship. Her childhood friend Hakeem tells her she’s too trusting. Her cousin Lara insists that Hakeem is in love with Samira himself, though he hasn’t bothered with his own door-knock. On top of this, Samira is expected to help with her loathed cousin Zahra’s wedding preparations. Samira is witty and funny, sensitive and sweet, a lover of movies and books. Her chatty narration makes her pleasant to spend time with, and she’s refreshingly secure in her relationship to her family and culture. But there are some missed opportunities to deepen the story. Oblique references to “The Boy” imply that Samira has had her heart broken before, but the backstory is never given. The name “Menem” is remarked upon as unusual more than once, but readers never get to hear the reason behind it, which might have given the character more specificity. As Zahra’s wedding preparations ramp up, Samira’s feelings for Menem deepen and she gets more and more (often condescending) noise from those around her. How will she follow her heart?
A tad slow to develop but with a winning heroine.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780063317673
Page Count: 336
Publisher: HarperVia
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
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 delightfully nostalgic novel about how the things we loved in the past have the power to shape our future.
A boy band cruise is the site of one woman’s post-divorce healing.
Annie never meant to end up alone on a Boy Talk cruise, but that’s exactly what happens when her sister breaks a leg and has to bow out of their vacation. Now Annie is sharing a cabin with a stranger, stuck on the cruise ship American Fantasy with the 1990s band—and thousands of their biggest fans, known as Talkers. Annie doesn’t consider herself a Talker, even if she was a fan back in the day. But reeling from a recent divorce and dealing with complex feelings about turning 50, Annie throws herself into the distraction of the trip. What she doesn’t expect is to truly connect with the music, the band, the other fans, and herself. As Annie observes, “This was why people turned to religion or watched the Super Bowl at a sports bar instead of alone in their living room. It felt good to be a part of something where your passion was celebrated instead of mocked.” All the Talkers dream of having a special bond with “the guys,” but when Annie actually does meet Keith, a Boy Talk member who’s clearly going through a hard time, she wonders if their connection is real or if she’s just as delusional as the other (mostly) women on the ship. Straub depicts a wonderfully immersive world aboard the American Fantasy, one where each woman assigns herself a favorite guy and everyone is bedecked in Boy Talk merch. For five days, the Talkers live in a fantasy world where the only thing that matters is their connection with a band that meant everything to them so many years ago. As Annie puts it, “Inside her head, which is where she heard the music, it had touched some lever so deep that it couldn’t be reversed…the music was a direct vein to her own childhood, the least complicated part of her life.”
A delightfully nostalgic novel about how the things we loved in the past have the power to shape our future.Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9798217046850
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
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