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 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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