Grief and suffering make for an emotionally moving novel, but without fully exploring healing and recovery, is it a romance?
A violinist struggling from burnout must face even bigger challenges.
After experiencing viral fame and an exhausting tour, Anna Sun can only hear flaws and mistakes when she plays music. She spends hours every day restarting the same piece of music, trying to make it perfect. When her therapist suggests Anna might be on the autism spectrum, she is relieved to finally understand herself better; unfortunately, her sister’s painful rejection of the idea leaves her feeling even more estranged from her family. After her boyfriend informs her he wants to be in an open relationship, Anna creates a profile and connects with Quan Diep on a dating app. The successful CEO of a small clothing company, Quan wants to enter the dating pool after a bout with cancer. Although they both want a no-strings affair, Anna discovers how easy it is to be her real self with Quan. The first half of the novel shows their relationship morphing into one of mutual caring and respect. When Anna’s father suffers a debilitating stroke without a medical directive, Anna and her mother and sister decide to care for him at home. Hoang unflinchingly describes the physically exhausting work of caretaking, which is coupled with Anna’s emotionally wrenching conviction that her father does not want to live this way. The primary themes in the second half are about filial piety and how Anna’s endless self-sacrifice without corresponding acceptance from her family pushes her to create limits and boundaries. Quan is a solid, steady presence but mostly relegated to the back burner. In the afterword, Hoang calls the book “half memoir,” which helps explain why it feels like half a romance. Genre readers will have to judge for themselves if the romance plot satisfies, but those desperate for fiction that explores the crushing weight of caregiving will find it here.
Grief and suffering make for an emotionally moving novel, but without fully exploring healing and recovery, is it a romance?Pub Date: Aug. 31, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-19783-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Deeply moving and emotional.
A hockey player falls in love with his tutor.
Matt “Freddy” Fredderic is the life of the party at Waterfell University. He’s a starter on the hockey team and can have any girl on campus—but he’s also in danger of failing out if he can’t improve his grades in math and biology. His ADHD, dyslexia, and dyscalculia make him eligible for university tutoring services, and Ro Shariff is his newly assigned tutor. Ro had a crush on Freddy freshman year but convinced herself that she’s over it now, in her senior year. She’s been in an on-again, off-again relationship with a guy named Tyler for the past two years, but he’s manipulative, borderline abusive, and probably cheating on her. Ro is desperate for love and affection and still suffers from bouts of intense homesickness. She and Freddy develop a tentative friendship even though they couldn’t be more different on the surface—he’s a popular, gregarious athlete to her quiet, introverted academic. Ro sees beyond Freddy’s persona as a dumb jock, while he recognizes that she feels lonely and like an outsider. When Freddy swoops in to rescue Ro after an ugly disagreement with Tyler, the two admit that their feelings for each other are more romantic than friendly. Corinne’s second novel is an emotional powerhouse. Ro and Freddy share everything with each other: fears of not being good enough for their friends, details of their harmful previous romantic relationships, and the deep feelings of grief related to illness and loss of parents. They have to learn to trust themselves and each other in the midst of the pressures that come with transitioning from college to adulthood. Their evolution from friends to lovers is a classic slow burn, and it makes for an angsty and deeply affecting read.
Deeply moving and emotional.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781668068489
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
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