A lively and engaging narrative voice is the star of this cozy romance-mystery.
A woman suspects her elderly relatives may be murderers.
At 26, Kasey Nottingham is still struggling to find the right career. She dropped out of law school and has been fired from several jobs, but a friend helped her land her current gig at a business incubator in Washington, D.C. In a moment of panic at a pitch meeting, Kasey recommends investing in Mags’ Desserts, a pie company in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. What Kasey fails to disclose is that Mags is her grandmother. The company is co-owned by Mags’ long-term lover, Celia; the two women founded it after they were both left in financial straits by their former husbands. Kasey knows their emotional attachment to the business makes them highly unlikely to sell. Her bosses send her to North Carolina to investigate the opportunity, leaving Kasey feeling trapped in a web of her own lies. If her boss discovers the truth, she’ll be fired, and if Mags and Celia learn the truth, she’ll disappoint them. Once she’s back home in Winston-Salem, Kasey tangles with Jackson Quaid, Celia’s nephew. Kasey has had a crush on Jackson since she was a teenager, but he’s always treated her as an annoyance. When Kasey starts to suspect that Mags and Celia are helping desperate women kill their husbands with poisoned pies, Jackson is the only person she can turn to for help. Kasey is an interesting character with a dynamic and entertaining narrative voice. The book is charming, but the intended audience and genre are unclear. Kasey’s romance with Jackson is a subplot at best, and the cozy mystery aspects are wrapped up by long stretches of exposition rather than active sleuthing. The strong thematic exploration of how women can take control of their lives is undermined by Kasey’s inability to be honest with the family matriarchs.
A lively and engaging narrative voice is the star of this cozy romance-mystery.Pub Date: March 11, 2025
ISBN: 9780063240582
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
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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