A charming and sweet look at the importance of breaking your own rules and taking a chance on love.
A London coder with a long list of relationship deal breakers finds out that true love might appear in the unlikeliest place when she’s paired up with her work nemesis.
Marina Spicer is behind schedule. All she wants is a safe, predictable relationship with the kind of man who wants to have kids, get a dog, and live happily-ever-after. But when her high school sweetheart dumps her, saying they want different things, she realizes she’s 30 years old and her biological clock is ticking louder every day. Enter Dealbreakers, an app she designed to help other efficient women weed out the men who just won’t work. It pulls data from other dating apps, then allows users to leave notes explaining what their date was really like—thus allowing people like Marina to avoid wasting time on someone who doesn’t fit their criteria. But the app isn’t Marina’s only work—her day job is at a website called LetsGO that helps people book interesting activities, and she wants to take on more responsibility. And then copywriter Lucas Kennedy shows up. He has tattoos, he smokes, he curses—all serious deal breakers for Marina. He’s also seemingly hellbent on annoying her. Unfortunately for her, they get paired up on a project, competing for the promotion Marina so desperately wants. The two of them have to test out date ideas, and as they try dancing, ax throwing, and an escape room, Marina starts to wonder if there’s more to Lucas than she suspected. Marina and Lucas have undeniable chemistry, and their dates provide them with plenty of opportunities to showcase their bickering banter as they get closer, both physically and emotionally. While the walls Marina built around her heart make sense, it’s satisfying to watch her open up—both to the possibility of love and to the risk that things might not go according to plan.
A charming and sweet look at the importance of breaking your own rules and taking a chance on love.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9780593422533
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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