An uplifting and honest portrayal of the healing potential of companionship.
Childhood frenemies find that they have a lot in common when they reconnect as doctors trying hard to heal themselves.
Indira Papadakis, a psychiatrist, rushes to her brother Collin’s Philadelphia home after she catches her live-in boyfriend cheating on her. All she's hoping for is a comfortable couch until she can get her life back in order. Instead, she encounters Jude, Collin’s best friend and her childhood nemesis. A doctor who's spent the last three years in conflict zones torn apart by humanitarian crises, Jude has taken a short break to attend Collin’s upcoming wedding. Reeling from unprocessed trauma that he's concealing from his friends and family, Jude is already on edge before Indira walks back into his life. While he has always been wary of her perceptiveness, he is even more unnerved by the psychiatrist’s capacity to see past his defenses. After a few conversations, the duo realizes that they will both be able to weather the endless events in the run-up to Collin’s wedding with greater ease if they pretend to be a couple. But pretenses collapse quickly when the warm comfort of shared memories sparks an attraction that both find hard to ignore. Eddings dwells on Jude's and Indira’s struggles with mental health with a vivid attention to detail. Consequently, the evolution of their relationship from enemies to lovers roughly parallels the individual paths they take from pain to recovery. Indira and Jude are easy to root for: Not only is there undeniable heat between them, but they each demonstrate a lovely willingness to work on themselves as they try to reach for lasting love. But the focus on pain and healing leaves several scenes sounding like a well-intentioned wellness manual.
An uplifting and honest portrayal of the healing potential of companionship.Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781250847041
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
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
Slow and plodding.
A young woman with a magical ability to harness light discovers she is royalty.
Talasyn is a foot soldier for her homeland of Sardovia, which has been under attack for the past decade by the powerful and evil Night Empire, a conflict known as the Hurricane Wars. Talasyn is an orphan with no knowledge of her family, but she assumes they might be the source of her rare, magical Lightweaving talent. During a battle with the forces of the Night Empire, Talasyn spars with Prince Alaric, a fierce warrior who is the son and heir to the Night Emperor. Talasyn is sent on a covert mission into Nenavar, a nearby matriarchy that has remained neutral during the Hurricane Wars, to try to access a Light Sever which could hone and refine her magic. Instead, she discovers she is the heir to their royal throne; she and her mother, now presumed dead, disappeared under mysterious circumstances when she was a year old. Alaric follows her into Nenavar, and they discover his magical ability to cast darkness and shadows produces shocking results when mixed with her Lightweaving. A few weeks later, the Night Empire defeats Sardovia and ends the Hurricane Wars, and the novel transitions to a tedious, slow-moving story of court intrigue and diplomacy. A group of Sardovian soldiers and refugees seek asylum in Nenavar, but Talasyn’s grandmother agrees to protect them only if Talasyn agrees to join the royal court and marry Alaric. The politics surrounding the impending wedding is the primary plot for the rest of the novel, and it’s a slog. The glacially slow pacing only serves to highlight the confusing world building and underdeveloped characters. It’s unclear why Alaric and Talasyn are attracted to each other, and their tentative romance is just as stuck in a rut as the plot.
Slow and plodding.Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9780063277274
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
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