An often engaging tribute to firefighters that’s sweet and sad, by turns.
A firefighter and his wife cope with cancer in Bell’s novel, set at the beginning of the 21st century.
Katie Garrett, a second grade teacher, is getting ready for her first day of school when a co-worker upsets her by telling her that she spotted Katie’s husband at the grocery store “having a good time” with an attractive blond woman. Katie’s husband, Andy, works as a firefighter, emergency medical technician, and part-time delivery person; his actual secret is that he’s been having health problems he hasn’t told his wife about. This pain is causing him to act erratically; Katie soon suspects that, even if he’s not cheating on her, something is definitely up. Andy finally decides to go to a doctor and is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He stalls on telling his wife, but Katie finally confronts him; he reveals the truth, which she takes surprisingly well. Word gets out to others when a nurse unethically informs people of Andy’s diagnosis. (A secondary plot follows a romance between the nurse and a rookie at the fire station.) There are a lot of saccharine-sweet scenes of Katie and Andy affirming their love for each other, and a great deal of the narrative is also devoted to Andy’s treatment. His chief thinks the cancer was caused by exposure to toxic chemicals on the job, and in this way, the author meets her stated goal of providing a tribute to firefighters who face a wide range of dangers. Overall, this is a heartfelt and skillfully written novel, and the details of Andy’s time on the job are vivid and realistic: “a sudden loud boom, followed quickly by a wave of pressure, propelled all three firefighters off their feet….All Andy could see through his mask from where he’d been thrown was a wall of orange.” There are also some nicely written scenes with Andy at the firehouse that highlight the complex relationships between the firefighters. Readers also get glimpses of Katie’s life as a teacher, but they’re not quite as compelling.
An often engaging tribute to firefighters that’s sweet and sad, by turns.Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2022
ISBN: 9781736560426
Page Count: 482
Publisher: Day Agency Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A powerfully strong romance for readers who like their love stories full of torment and passion.
Best friends confront feelings for each other when they take a honeymoon trip together.
Francesca Gardiner and George Saint James have always been best friends—just like Jo and Laurie from Little Women, which they both love. Frankie has a big, complicated family and George was the boy next door who’d moved in with his eccentric grandmother. Their friendship survived childhood, awkward teenage years, and living together as young adults without ever venturing into the romantic—well, except for one kiss, but they don’t talk about that. When Frankie gets engaged to an older professor named Nate, George isn’t happy and a huge fight ensues. Despite his misgivings, George shows up to be her best man, but Nate leaves Frankie right before the wedding with only a cryptic letter. Devastated, Frankie goes to a friend’s house to recuperate, but her honeymoon is already planned and paid for—so she decides to travel to Tofino, a picturesque town on the coast of Vancouver Island, with George taking Nate’s place. Frankie wants to fix her friendship with George, but now that they’re in a romantic suite in a beautiful location, things are more complicated than ever. She’d always thought a relationship would be a bad idea, but she’s slowly beginning to realize they’ll never be able to go back to being kids. Maybe the only way forward involves forging a new kind of relationship. Fortune, the author of romances like This Summer Will Be Different (2024), returns with another love story full of longing and intense angst. The many allusions to Little Women are charming, and Frankie is a delightfully headstrong, feisty character. She and George have explosive chemistry, and Fortune manages to make the “will-they-or-won’t-they” nature of their relationship feel like life-or-death stakes.
A powerfully strong romance for readers who like their love stories full of torment and passion.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9780593953242
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
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