An unconvincing mystery and love story despite some engaging conversation.
A new guy in town gets tangled up in a murder plot in this contemporary romance.
On Reid Lucas’ first day in a new town, police arrest him for driving under the influence. He uses his phone call to contact a woman he knows named Jane, but instead, he gets her roommate, Alyssa. He talks her into bailing him out, and to make it up to her, he cooks dinner for her, revealing that he’s moved to town for a software engineering job. Alyssa is a cop in the process of getting her marriage annulled. Their relationship might have ended there if not for a shooting at Reid’s new office; Reid is a suspect, but Alyssa is his alibi. They strike up a friendship, and Reid helps Alyssa with an altercation with her soon-to-be ex-husband; she’s grateful for his help, and they later sleep together. A vague possibility that someone wants to kill Reid, but killed his boss by mistake, hangs over the proceedings. When Reid loses his job, he must decide whether to stay in town or move back to Chicago. Alyssa is starchy and judgmental, and although overcoming trust issues is a common romance trope, Alyssa comes off as unsympathetic at times because she’s so humorless. She’s also religious, which makes it curious that she’d be so attracted to Reid, who seems to think marriage vows are merely suggestions. The pair just don’t seem to have much in common, so the story’s conclusion feels forced. Meanwhile, the story’s detectives are almost comically bad at their jobs, jumping to unfounded conclusions about Reid that keep getting him in trouble. Ultimately, the murder plot takes a back seat to the romance and, indeed, is finally solved off-page. The prose is smoothly written, with bits of snappy dialogue, as when Jane asks Reid if chopping onions makes him cry: “ ‘Not if you know the trick,’ he said. ‘Is it a secret?’ ‘Oh, I have lots of secrets,’ he assured her.”However, the plot is messy and illogical and doesn’t entirely hang together.
An unconvincing mystery and love story despite some engaging conversation.Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5092-3777-7
Page Count: 264
Publisher: Wild Rose Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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