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HUNT ON DARK WATERS

The adventure is more engaging than the romance, which is sexy but shallow.

A chaotic, thieving witch finds herself stuck in a multiverse purgatory with a mysterious and stalwart pirate captain.

Evelyn has a penchant for courting disaster, especially when her latest friends-with-benefits situation has gone sour. Seeking to needle her vampire ex-girlfriend, Lizzie, Evelyn makes off with some of Lizzie's precious heirlooms. Escaping from her angry ex, Evelyn takes the only way out: a magic portal that literally dumps her directly into unfamiliar waters. Her saving grace comes from the crew of the Crimson Hag, led by its telekinetic captain, Bowen. Evelyn learns that she's in Threshold, a realm connected to every other realm in existence. Bowen and his crew patrol its waters, fighting off all manner of frightening creatures that seek to make their way into other worlds. Bowen offers Evelyn a deal: She can join his crew or be tossed back into the sea, because becoming a resident of Threshold is permanent, one way or another. Though Evelyn agrees to his terms, she has no intention of upholding them and plans to return to her own world at the first chance she gets. Evelyn and Bowen are delightful opposites. She is cheeky, flirtatious, and has no problem inviting in a bit of trouble. Her attitude often chafes against Bowen's; he adheres to rules and laws to a stubborn degree. Their banter is fun, but Evelyn adopts a "here for a good time, not a long time" mentality that doesn't promise the romance a lasting foundation; it seems more likely that Bowen will become another temporary, no-strings-attached escapade for Evelyn than that they’ll have a happily-ever-after. The action and adventure are where things really shine. Seeing Evelyn, Bowen, and the rest of the crew tackle insurmountable odds and dangerous monsters makes this magical, high-seas romp a quick read, even if the romance feels underutilized.

The adventure is more engaging than the romance, which is sexy but shallow.

Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023

ISBN: 9780593639085

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Berkley

Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023

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DEEP END

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

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JUST FOR THE SUMMER

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

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