A dramatic and often satisfying tale with supernatural elements.
Sullivan’s romantic ghost story tells the story of two young women in Rome, a century apart.
In 1896, American Isabelle Field’s very rich Auntie Elizabeth, also known as Princess Brancaccio, has married into Italian aristocracy and has been asked to find a suitable match for her poor relation. In 2006, Sophie Nouri, a graduate student in Persian art history, is interning at the Brancaccio Palace, which is now an art museum. The connection between the women is that both, in their own time, live in a certain room on the top floor of the palace in the servants’ quarters. Isabelle is a spirited young woman and a talented fashion designer who has more modern ideas than her aunt does; the latter has her eye on an odious fop, Count Massimo, as a marriage match for her niece. Meanwhile, Isabelle and an attractive operatic tenor, Lamberto Perelli, fall in love. Sophie meets Sayed Ahmadi, an Iranian man who’s brought on as her assistant and who’s fluent in both English and Italian. Both women experience terrible traumas, but their lives have very different outcomes. Sophie’s storyline includes what appear to be encounters with a ghost, who seems to want to warn her of impending danger. Sullivan is an experienced historical novelist, and in this novel she displays a great love of Italy, which she clearly knows well; her sense of place is meticulous throughout, as when Sophie reflects on her initial explorations: “One more church to explore, one more picturesque twisting street tempting her to follow its path, one more piazza drenched in sunshine, character, and local flavor in which to sit and drink a coffee, watching the people passing by.” Some readers may find Sullivan’s prose style to be overheated, at times; tears “well up” or “prick” with alarming frequency. But the blending of the two well-paced stories is gracefully managed, as is the idea that social change is inevitable—even in 1896, as Isabelle breaks loose from her aunt’s domination, which is no small thing in the rigid fin de siècle society.
A dramatic and often satisfying tale with supernatural elements.Pub Date: Dec. 6, 2023
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 388
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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