A winning, feisty will-they-or-won’t-they romance.
In Michaels’ romance novel, a woman gets a second chance at a happily-ever-after.
Kate Fiore has just made it to Gull Island, North Carolina, her new home for the next few months. Her best friend CeCe Greenwood is beginning her maternity leave, and Kate will be filling in for her at the Gull Island Aquarium. Aquatic life may not be Kate’s forte, but she’s good at keeping things running smoothly and organizing events, which will come in handy when she has to help coordinate the donor dinner during the upcoming Founders Day celebration. This time away, keeping busy at the aquarium, is exactly what Kate needs—a reset after getting divorced and losing her job (adding insult to injury, she learns her ex has already impregnated his new girlfriend). But on her first day there, she manages to get locked out of her little bungalow and embarrasses herself in front of Luke McAllister, a very handsome (but very snarky) local. Gull Island isn’t especially big, and Kate soon realizes just how small it really is as she seems to run into the gruff Luke everywhere she goes. As time goes on, she realizes Luke has a kinder heart and a sweeter personality than their first few meetings led her to believe. But Kate is only supposed to be here for the summer…. In this sweet romance, the first in a series, the author creates a beautiful small-town setting in Gull Island and the surrounding areas (“A gentle breeze brushed against her cheek, carrying the briny perfume of the ocean and the scent of jasmine from a nearby garden”), with plenty of colorful side characters. Kate and Luke’s romance is definitely the highlight of the novel, with their squabbles and their “Turtle Team” (they comb the beach looking for turtle nests to protect) rules that they amend as they go. This is a romantic and chaste narrative (with nothing steamy happening on the page), sure to please anyone looking for a sweet and breezy beach read.
A winning, feisty will-they-or-won’t-they romance.Pub Date: July 17, 2024
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 367
Publisher: Cool Breeze Books
Review Posted Online: June 17, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A heartfelt look at taking second chances, in life and in love.
Two struggling authors spend the summer writing and falling in love in a quaint beach town.
January Andrews has just arrived in the small town of North Bear Shores with some serious baggage. Her father has been dead for a year, but she still hasn’t come to terms with what she found out at his funeral—he had been cheating on her mother for years. January plans to spend the summer cleaning out and selling the house her father and “That Woman” lived in together. But she’s also a down-on-her-luck author facing writer’s block, and she no longer believes in the happily-ever-after she’s made the benchmark of her work. Her steadily dwindling bank account, though, is a daily reminder that she must sell her next book, and fast. Serendipitously, she discovers that her new next-door neighbor is Augustus Everett, the darling of the literary fiction set and her former college rival/crush. Gus also happens to be struggling with his next book (and some serious trauma that unfolds throughout the novel). Though the two get off to a rocky start, they soon make a bet: Gus will try to write a romance novel, and January will attempt “bleak literary fiction.” They spend the summer teaching each other the art of their own genres—January takes Gus on a romantic outing to the local carnival; Gus takes January to the burned-down remains of a former cult—and they both process their own grief, loss, and trauma through this experiment. There are more than enough steamy scenes to sustain the slow-burn romance, and smart commentary on the placement and purpose of “women’s fiction” joins with crucial conversations about mental health to add multiple intriguing layers to the plot.
A heartfelt look at taking second chances, in life and in love.Pub Date: May 19, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0673-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Jove/Penguin
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
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