An appealing historical romance with enchanting touches.
A Gilded Age grifter makes good, eventually.
Josie Smith does what she needs to get by, after having been abandoned as an infant and raised at the Boston Children’s Asylum. She takes care of herself and her best friend and looks for every opportunity to sing, in the hopes that her extraordinary talent might make her famous someday. And indeed, singing on the street does bring attention her way, but it’s from one of Boston’s many con men: Leo Hardy. His father died after having been unfairly accused by the wealthy Pendelton family of having kidnapped their baby, and now he’ll do anything to keep his mother and sisters off the streets. When the desperate Leo hears Josie sing, he’s immediately drawn to her voice, and then, when he realizes she has an uncanny resemblance to the lost Pendelton child, he puts together a swindle that could make them both rich. Leo convinces Josie to let him be her manager, then insists on taking her to New York City to audition for her big break; unbeknownst to her, he’s also plotting to get her near the Pendeltons, in the hopes they’ll believe she’s their daughter and he can collect the reward for finding her. Neither of them counts on what will happen when their purposely platonic relationship starts to heat up in the middle of Central Park, or what else will happen after the Pendeltons finally learn about Josie. Shupe’s newest Gilded Age romance builds on the framework of the movie Anastasia, which is a good match for the extreme inequality of the era. This inspiration explains the fantastical nature of the story; though Shupe includes the historical details that always set her romances apart, and it’s not her first time adapting a fairy tale, it becomes hard to suspend disbelief at certain points. Her writing is as saucy and spicy as ever, however, and combined with some thoughtful consideration of class and wealth in the era, Shupe’s fans will find much to enjoy.
An appealing historical romance with enchanting touches.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9780063310315
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
A surprisingly sensual sports romance.
A collegiate diver and swimmer secretly pursue kink together, and risk falling in love along the way.
Scarlett Vandermeer is struggling. Despite a successful recovery from the injury that almost ended her Stanford diving career, she hasn’t been able to get her head together, and it’s affecting her performance. Plus, she’s trying to stay focused on getting into medical school. A relationship would be out of the question. By comparison, Lukas Blomqvist is a swimming idol, a record-breaker who wins medals as easily as breathing, and Scarlett has long been convinced he would never look in her direction—until one fateful night when a mutual friend lets slip that they have something unexpected in common: Scarlett likes to be submissive in the bedroom, while Lukas prefers to take a dominant approach. Now, they both know a big secret about each other, and it’s something neither of them can stop thinking about. It’s Lukas who suggests they have a fling—purely physical, just to take the edge off, so Scarlett can get out of her own head and stop overthinking her dives. Initially, their arrangement is easy to stick to, but the more time they spend together, the more Scarlett starts to realize that what she feels for Lukas is more than physical attraction. Complicating the situation is the fact that Scarlett’s friend Penelope Ross used to go out with Lukas, and the longer Scarlett keeps mum about her true feelings for him, the more difficult it is to keep the situation hidden from another person she really cares about. While Scarlett and Lukas’ relationship does begin as a physical one, their deeper psychological connection takes a little too long to emerge amid all the other storylines, resulting in a somewhat rushed resolution. However, Hazelwood’s latest is proof of the depth and maturity that has emerged in her writing over the years, and it highlights her embrace of sexier, more emotional elements than were present in her original STEMinist rom-coms.
A surprisingly sensual sports romance.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593641057
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
A charming dual-timeline romance about learning from past mistakes.
In Yarros’ latest romance novel, a young woman hires a handsome but infuriating writer to complete her late great-grandmother’s half-finished book.
After her marriage to a Hollywood producer ends in high-profile divorce, 28-year-old Georgia Stanton returns to her childhood home in Colorado. When she arrives at the house where she was raised by her great-grandma—the famous romance author Scarlett Stanton—she finds her mother, Ava, lying in wait. Georgia is in possession of the only unfinished manuscript that her deceased relative left behind, and her own mom wants her to sell the rights so they can get some cash. Georgia succumbs to the pressure and enters a deal in which another author will finish the book’s second half. The manuscript tells Scarlett’s life story, including how she found, and lost, her one true love. Georgia feels strongly that the finished novel must reflect the true events of Scarlett’s life, as difficult as they may have been. Unfortunately, the publishers hire Noah Harrison, a stubborn writer at the height of his career, who has his own fictional vision for the novel’s ending. As Noah and Georgia butt heads, each of them researches Scarlett’s history in England during World War II. As they learn more about Scarlett and Jameson Stanton, the fighter pilot she loved, Georgia and Noah must navigate their own increasingly complicated relationship. With two equally engrossing storylines, this book will draw in even seasoned romance readers. As the story jumps between past and present, the author also alternates present-day perspectives between Georgia and Noah, moving deftly between her characters’ distinct voices. The relationships are well developed, and the love that Scarlett felt for Jameson is especially palpable. Along with the sweetly romantic themes, the book explores several heftier topics, including personal ambition, grief, family discord, and self-esteem. The story has a few digressions that do little to advance the plot, but the main characters are sufficiently engrossing that readers will want to stick with them to the end.
A charming dual-timeline romance about learning from past mistakes.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68281-566-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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