A charming romance of seemingly mismatched partners rendered with wit and heart.
A Boston businessman and the operator of a horse rescue farm in North Carolina clash and connect in Dodd’s romance novel.
In Mimosa, North Carolina, Boston real estate developer Gideon West hangs on for dear life as a “marauding mustang,” which his local contacts suggested he ride to inspect some land, bucks wildly out of control. A mocking red-haired woman appears, saves him by grabbing the reins, and leaves without revealing her name. Gideon soon learns that she is Everest Kennedy, the daughter of Mimosa’s mayor, who operates Second Chance Farms, which takes in neglected and abused horses.Everest is looking to expand her operations, and Gideon’s interest in the area is particularly worrying to her. Visiting her father to learn more about the situation, Everest runs into Gideon again, kicking off a series of interactions that progress from wary banter (particularly on Everest’s part) to full-blown mutual attraction. Everest agrees to a short-term dating relationship, initially to keep abreast of Gideon’s plans and to fend off her friends’ urging that she get a life outside of work. The couple’s relationship moves to the next level when Gideon whisks Everest off to Boston and his amazing condo. She then faces a new crisis; Everest could never leave Mimosa, and she can’t imagine Gideon giving up his luxurious city lifestyle. Gideon becomes obsessed with an ill-fated grand gesture intended to prove his love before his business partners propose a wonderful solution.
The author unspools this tale in fast-moving short chapters that alternate between Gideon’s and Everest’s perspectives, yielding often amusing results; Everest, intoxicated by Gideon’s cologne when socializing with him in a bar, notes to herself, “I needed either to switch seats or learn how to breathe through my skin like a frog.” Gideon, used to swaggering about in tuxedos at Boston social events, wonders how “I had become the guy who, in a span of less than twelve hours, had been thoroughly emasculated by a runaway horse, shot beer out of his nose in public, and was now covered from the knees down in a different horse’s nose vomit.” The rescue and care of horses are key narrative elements, beautifully rendered in several touching and dramatic scenes that also become occasions for Everest and Gideon to further bond with and appreciate each other. The progression to love made by these very different people is presented believably, with each character’s epiphanies about their true feelings teased out in part by commentary from the colorful cohort of insightful secondary characters, including Everest’s best friend, Cammie Givens; her father, Mayor Jackson Kennedy; and Leroy, her second-in-command at the farm.Gideon’s transformation from a rather cocky eligible bachelor to gesture-making supplicant is a particularly sweet and engaging aspect of this story; even his partners, introduced as frat-boy types, reveal themselves to be surprisingly wise and loving as they help him to find happiness. Dodd also has fun with romance conventions (Gideon’s grand gesture being the chief example), which the story both follows and regards with a wink.
A charming romance of seemingly mismatched partners rendered with wit and heart.Pub Date: May 16, 2023
ISBN: 9798986288048
Page Count: 334
Publisher: Sugar Beaver Books, LLC
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Two hot people confronting their trauma, making passionate love, and solving violent crimes! ’Nuff said.
A heartbroken man lusts after his therapist while seeking revenge on a drug kingpin and his enforcer.
Mitch Haskell’s wife, Angela, died two years ago of an apparent suicide, but Mitch has always believed the scene was staged. Certainly, she would never have willingly left their young son, Andrew, behind. Consumed with a thirst for vengeance, Mitch—a former Marine and undercover agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration and currently a police detective—is struggling with alcohol dependency and uncontrolled rage. Andrew is living with his in-laws, who are making not-so-subtle suggestions that they might apply for permanent guardianship if Mitch can’t get it together. So his boss and best friend, John Bowie, mandates that he go into therapy, which puts him in the path of sexy Dr. Dylan Reede. Within a few days, Mitch makes a connection between two new murders and the death of his former partner; finds a big clue that points to the truth about Angela’s death; goes undercover as a homeless man; takes on a vicious drug cartel; and obnoxiously bullies Dylan with a charm offensive that leads them inevitably to bed. While Mitch seems to lean into the stereotype of the ex-soldier/cop with deeply buried trauma who believes that the ends justify the means—at least in law enforcement—Dylan offers the strength and sweetness to help him start breaking down his walls, allowing herself to be vulnerable in turn. Is passionate sex enough to ground a relationship and a family for the long term? For these characters, and the breakneck speed of this thriller, it’s as good a foundation as any.
Two hot people confronting their trauma, making passionate love, and solving violent crimes! ’Nuff said.Pub Date: March 17, 2026
ISBN: 9781538743027
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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