Parallel characters and melodramatic tales that prove somber but absorbing.
Two love stories set in different eras collide in this debut novel.
In 1997, American college freshman Karen Mary Williams won’t let anything sidetrack her goal of becoming a doctor. She can have an active social life and still study faithfully. But when Karen gets pregnant, her nerdish “study buddy” and maybe boyfriend, Peter Schmidt, offers to marry her. As the years pass, she concentrates on her new family even if it puts the brakes on her professional drive. Although she loves Peter, Karen may succumb to her sexual desire when reuniting with the rich pre-med student she dated back in college. In a concurrent plot, a woman awakens in an alley in 16th-century Antwerp. As she can’t remember who she is or how she got there, she goes by Mariken, a name courtesy of a kindhearted seamstress she befriends. But Mariken is definitely a physician, a skill she uses to help others. She falls in love with a humble blacksmith and rejects the advances of an arrogant banker. But living in an era when people are executed for heresy, Mariken is one of many women wrongfully accused of and tried for witchcraft. Wiens simplifies his dual plot narrative by focusing on one story at a time before tying them together in the present day. The swiftly paced novel fluidly moves through years with the married couple as well as Mariken’s fraught, centuries-old medical procedures. The tale also features real-life historical figures and events. The book is often grim, with the imprisoned women’s horrid treatment and a minor present-day serial-killer subplot that pays off by the end. The love stories, meanwhile, are enthralling and realistic; for example, Karen and Peter’s mutual fondness doesn’t mean they don’t bicker. While the plot-linking final act satisfies, the author drops enough hints throughout Mariken’s tale that many readers will have already made the connections.
Parallel characters and melodramatic tales that prove somber but absorbing.Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2021
ISBN: 9798987879603
Page Count: 330
Publisher: H.P. Waterhouse Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2021
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
Slow and plodding.
A young woman with a magical ability to harness light discovers she is royalty.
Talasyn is a foot soldier for her homeland of Sardovia, which has been under attack for the past decade by the powerful and evil Night Empire, a conflict known as the Hurricane Wars. Talasyn is an orphan with no knowledge of her family, but she assumes they might be the source of her rare, magical Lightweaving talent. During a battle with the forces of the Night Empire, Talasyn spars with Prince Alaric, a fierce warrior who is the son and heir to the Night Emperor. Talasyn is sent on a covert mission into Nenavar, a nearby matriarchy that has remained neutral during the Hurricane Wars, to try to access a Light Sever which could hone and refine her magic. Instead, she discovers she is the heir to their royal throne; she and her mother, now presumed dead, disappeared under mysterious circumstances when she was a year old. Alaric follows her into Nenavar, and they discover his magical ability to cast darkness and shadows produces shocking results when mixed with her Lightweaving. A few weeks later, the Night Empire defeats Sardovia and ends the Hurricane Wars, and the novel transitions to a tedious, slow-moving story of court intrigue and diplomacy. A group of Sardovian soldiers and refugees seek asylum in Nenavar, but Talasyn’s grandmother agrees to protect them only if Talasyn agrees to join the royal court and marry Alaric. The politics surrounding the impending wedding is the primary plot for the rest of the novel, and it’s a slog. The glacially slow pacing only serves to highlight the confusing world building and underdeveloped characters. It’s unclear why Alaric and Talasyn are attracted to each other, and their tentative romance is just as stuck in a rut as the plot.
Slow and plodding.Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9780063277274
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
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