The last installment of a trilogy has inventive, interesting worldbuilding but fails to deliver a compelling romance.
A paranormal investigator is the key to finding a research lab that’s been hidden for decades.
Decades ago, Harlan Rancourt’s family created the Foundation, a mysterious organization that attempted to harvest and control paranormal energy. After the suspicious death of his father years earlier, Harlan disappeared and went off the grid. He had little interest in running the Foundation, letting others take control of the organization while Harlan focused on finding his father’s killer. Now, he must team up with the Foundation in order to discover the location of a lost lab which contains a dangerous weapon called the Vortex. Olivia LeClair’s investigation firm contracts for the Foundation, and Harlan insists that she's the only one who can help him. He suspects she is a latent oracle. If Harlan can activate her ability, she will be the key to not only finding the location of the lost lab, but also to safely dismantling the Vortex. Harlan and Olivia are in a race against other parties who hope to use the Vortex as a prototype for building even more dangerous paranormal weapons, which will increase their own powers. There is inventive worldbuilding and interesting exploration of how psychic abilities evolve in humans, but Harlan and Olivia are strangely flat characters in a perfunctory romance plot. Krentz demonstrates that Harlan and Olivia are good partners, playing off each other’s strengths to find the Vortex, but there is very little tension or interesting conflict driving their romantic relationship. Since they intuitively understand each other, they can focus on stopping the bad guys and recovering the Vortex; however, romance readers looking for a rich emotional journey will be disappointed.
The last installment of a trilogy has inventive, interesting worldbuilding but fails to deliver a compelling romance.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593337-75-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2021
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 wallowing, emotionally wrenching family drama that leaves little time for romance.
Two people with bad luck in relationships find each other through a popular Reddit thread.
Emma Grant and her best friend, Maddy, are travel nurses, working at hospitals for three-month stints while they see the country. Just a few weeks before they’re set to move to Hawaii, Emma reads a popular “Am I the Asshole” Reddit thread from a Minnesota man who thinks he’s cursed—women he dates find their soulmates after breaking up with him, and the latest one found true love with his best friend! Emma has had a similar experience, which inspires her to DM the man and commiserate. She’s delighted by her witty, lively interactions with software engineer Justin Dahl, and is intrigued when he suggests that if they date each other, maybe they’ll each find their soulmate afterward. Emma upends the Hawaii plan and convinces Maddy to move to Minneapolis for the summer so she can meet Justin in person. The overly complex setup brings Emma and Justin together and the two hit it off, with Justin immediately falling head over heels for Emma. Jimenez then pivots to creating romantic roadblocks and melodramatic subplots centering on each character’s family of origin. Justin’s mother is about to serve six years in prison for embezzlement, which means Justin must move back home to care for his three much younger siblings. Emma was traumatized by her own mother for much of her childhood, left to fend for herself and eventually abandoned in the foster system. When her mother shows up in Minnesota, Emma must face her traumatic childhood and admit that she has prioritized her mother’s well-being over her own. There is little time devoted to Emma’s painful efforts to heal herself enough to accept Justin’s love, which leaves the novel feeling unsatisfying.
A wallowing, emotionally wrenching family drama that leaves little time for romance.Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781538704431
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
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