A compelling, full-of-heart novel about the power of female friendship.
Two London women accidentally switch bags at the gym and end up walking in one another’s shoes—literally.
Sam Kemp is struggling—between her demanding jerk of a boss, her pushy parents, and her husband’s untreated depression, she has the weight of the world on her shoulders. When she accidentally grabs the wrong bag at the gym as she rushes out to a meeting, she’s initially dismayed to find the bag contains a towering, strappy pair of Christian Louboutin heels instead of her usual sensible footwear. But when she’s forced to wear the shoes into her meetings, she discovers something—they give her confidence and power she’s never had before. Emboldened, she doesn’t rush back to the gym to return them. That’s unfortunate for Nisha Cantor, whose gym bag Sam accidentally stole. Nisha just got cut off by her ultrarich, controlling husband—now ex-husband. He won’t return her calls, he shuts her out of their penthouse, and he closes her credit cards, essentially leaving her with nothing. Out of options and money, Nisha finds herself working as a cleaner at the building where she once lived, hoping to sneak into her husband’s penthouse and get some of her things. But Nisha is also desperate to get those shoes back, and she’ll stop at nothing to find them. Meanwhile, Sam is dealing with her own problems, mainly feeling alone as she attempts to keep her family afloat while her husband’s illness worsens. When Nisha and Sam finally meet, the two of them realize they might actually be able to work together to fix both their lives. Nisha and Sam both have satisfying arcs as characters who start out being difficult to like—Nisha because she’s a snob and Sam because she’s a pushover—but become better, stronger people because of their friendship. Moyes is also brilliant at creating fully formed, charmingly funny side characters, like Nisha’s co-worker Jasmine and Sam’s friend Andrea. Ultimately, the story is about the importance of women from all walks of life supporting and looking out for one another.
A compelling, full-of-heart novel about the power of female friendship.Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781984879295
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Pamela Dorman/Viking
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
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
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