An uncomplicated and sometimes-entertaining rewrite of Shakespeare's enemies-to-lovers play.
An anti-love cardiologist must reassess matters of the heart when he is attracted to a sharp-tongued lawyer seeking true love.
On her 30th birthday, Kareena Mann learns that her father has decided to put her late mother’s beloved house up for sale. When Kareena protests, her father agrees to give her the house if she gets engaged within four months. Determined to marry for love, Kareena is looking for prospective soul mates when she runs into Prem Verma. They quickly forge a connection, but Prem upsets Kareena when he leaves their date abruptly. He further courts her rage when, on an episode of The Dr. Dil Show, the talk show he hosts on a local South Asian television network, he launches into a cynical tirade against love. Prem, who hosts the show to court investors interested in funding a community health center for the South Asian diaspora, is appalled when he finds out that Kareena’s public display of anger could endanger his goals. After a brief conversation with her aunties, Prem sees that if he can convince Kareena to pretend to be engaged to him, they will both get what they want: Prem can secure his future, and Kareena can get her home. But matters become complicated when they begin to like each other despite their diametrically opposed views. A loose adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew, the inaugural installment of Sharma’s If Shakespeare Was an Auntie trilogy is replete with endearing references to Indian, specifically Punjabi, culture. Kareena and Prem are engaging protagonists, and the relationships they each share with their closest friends are fresh and fun. But because the ties that bind them to their families are underdeveloped and the depth of their intergenerational trauma remains unplumbed, Sharma’s sincere attempt to unpack South Asian stereotypes sometimes winds up unwittingly bolstering them; for instance, while Kareena's aunties have the potential to leap off the page as memorable characters, there is little more to them than their fervent desire to see Kareena married.
An uncomplicated and sometimes-entertaining rewrite of Shakespeare's enemies-to-lovers play.Pub Date: March 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-300110-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Deeply moving and emotional.
A hockey player falls in love with his tutor.
Matt “Freddy” Fredderic is the life of the party at Waterfell University. He’s a starter on the hockey team and can have any girl on campus—but he’s also in danger of failing out if he can’t improve his grades in math and biology. His ADHD, dyslexia, and dyscalculia make him eligible for university tutoring services, and Ro Shariff is his newly assigned tutor. Ro had a crush on Freddy freshman year but convinced herself that she’s over it now, in her senior year. She’s been in an on-again, off-again relationship with a guy named Tyler for the past two years, but he’s manipulative, borderline abusive, and probably cheating on her. Ro is desperate for love and affection and still suffers from bouts of intense homesickness. She and Freddy develop a tentative friendship even though they couldn’t be more different on the surface—he’s a popular, gregarious athlete to her quiet, introverted academic. Ro sees beyond Freddy’s persona as a dumb jock, while he recognizes that she feels lonely and like an outsider. When Freddy swoops in to rescue Ro after an ugly disagreement with Tyler, the two admit that their feelings for each other are more romantic than friendly. Corinne’s second novel is an emotional powerhouse. Ro and Freddy share everything with each other: fears of not being good enough for their friends, details of their harmful previous romantic relationships, and the deep feelings of grief related to illness and loss of parents. They have to learn to trust themselves and each other in the midst of the pressures that come with transitioning from college to adulthood. Their evolution from friends to lovers is a classic slow burn, and it makes for an angsty and deeply affecting read.
Deeply moving and emotional.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781668068489
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
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