A seriously sexy romance that delivers on genre expectations while also feeling fresh and energetic.
A career-oriented woman who relishes her freedom meets her match in an attractive ski instructor with a haunted past in Blackhall’s romance novel.
In this third installment of the Bristol Park series, New York City resident Stacy Barclay heads off for a much-needed getaway with her two best friends to a cozy ski resort in Abbeydon, a few hours outside the city. As the senior analyst for a financial firm, Stacy desperately needs to unwind, having just learned that she hadn’t received a much-deserved promotion (“What was worse, the guy who did had a less impressive portfolio and less experience”). When she meets the resort’s ski instructor, Luke Tverberg, sparks immediately fly and the two begin a sexually charged game of cat-and-mouse. It turns out that Luke has enjoyed frequent dalliances with guests over his years of nomadic seasonal living, but currently he’s celibate, and has been so for over a year. He also has a tragedy in his past: His girlfriend, Becca, was killed during a carjacking 10 years ago, just a few days before Christmas. Ever since, Luke avoids commitment—and the holidays—as much as he possibly can. But his connection with Stacy proves to be something special, even as they both tell each other (and themselves) that they want to keep things strictly physical: “Stacy was different. He’d felt it the moment they met, and every interaction they’d had since.” When Luke finally makes a move toward something more serious, Stacy’s feeling that she must choose between her job and romantic happiness threatens everything they have.
In chapters told from alternating third-personviewpoints, readers get an inside look at both main characters’ inner lives. Stacy’s dedication to proving herself in an “old boys’ network” will be relatable to many readers, and Luke’s tale of teenage heartbreak tackles grief in a surprisingly meaningful way. Blackhall also makes sure to hit the high notes that romance fans expect: Engaging sexual tension, a cozy wintry backdrop, and protagonists who resist love until they can’t. Smooth prose and naturalistic dialogue make this a breezy read, and the characters are well-developed throughout. Even the side players get brief moments to shine, as when Luke’s gay brother, Erik, navigates the tricky world of small-town dating. Blackhall’s characters also display a healthy attitude toward sex with casual references to vibrators, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, and condoms. One of the most swoon-worthy comments comes from Luke’s insistence on clear sexual communication: “I take consent very seriously, and your comfort even more so.” The sex scenes themselves are frequent, explicit, and passionate. A few elements feel repetitive, including references to Luke’s sexually charged growling and occasional other phrases (“he wanted, no he needed more”; “She wanted, no, she needed more”; “She wanted, no, she needed it harder”). Still, Blackhall manages to craft a racy romantic novel that also weaves in serious themes—a classic story that’s also perfectly modern.
A seriously sexy romance that delivers on genre expectations while also feeling fresh and energetic.Pub Date: Nov. 14, 2023
ISBN: 9781802505825
Page Count: 324
Publisher: Totally Bound Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 16, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A surprisingly sensual sports romance.
A collegiate diver and swimmer secretly pursue kink together, and risk falling in love along the way.
Scarlett Vandermeer is struggling. Despite a successful recovery from the injury that almost ended her Stanford diving career, she hasn’t been able to get her head together, and it’s affecting her performance. Plus, she’s trying to stay focused on getting into medical school. A relationship would be out of the question. By comparison, Lukas Blomqvist is a swimming idol, a record-breaker who wins medals as easily as breathing, and Scarlett has long been convinced he would never look in her direction—until one fateful night when a mutual friend lets slip that they have something unexpected in common: Scarlett likes to be submissive in the bedroom, while Lukas prefers to take a dominant approach. Now, they both know a big secret about each other, and it’s something neither of them can stop thinking about. It’s Lukas who suggests they have a fling—purely physical, just to take the edge off, so Scarlett can get out of her own head and stop overthinking her dives. Initially, their arrangement is easy to stick to, but the more time they spend together, the more Scarlett starts to realize that what she feels for Lukas is more than physical attraction. Complicating the situation is the fact that Scarlett’s friend Penelope Ross used to go out with Lukas, and the longer Scarlett keeps mum about her true feelings for him, the more difficult it is to keep the situation hidden from another person she really cares about. While Scarlett and Lukas’ relationship does begin as a physical one, their deeper psychological connection takes a little too long to emerge amid all the other storylines, resulting in a somewhat rushed resolution. However, Hazelwood’s latest is proof of the depth and maturity that has emerged in her writing over the years, and it highlights her embrace of sexier, more emotional elements than were present in her original STEMinist rom-coms.
A surprisingly sensual sports romance.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593641057
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
A satisfying crime novel with a side order of romance.
A TV producer and a detective try to stop a strange pattern of young women disappearing.
In “Auclair, Loooziana,” disillusioned detective John Bowie reluctantly meets in a bar with Beth Collins, producer for the true crime show Crisis Point. She needs to interview him about the disastrous case of the missing Crissy Mellin, but he refuses. The teenager disappeared three years ago on the night of a blood moon and hasn’t been found, but a suspect hanged himself in jail after signing a confession. Case closed, says John’s boss. But John is convinced that their prisoner could not have been guilty, and he’s deeply upset at his failure. “The Mellin case messed up your life,” Beth tells him. She persuades John that Crissy’s disappearance is the latest of a series that happen on the night of a blood moon, the colloquial term for a total lunar eclipse. “It’s going to happen again,” she predicts. And wouldn’t you know, another blood moon is coming in four days. Tick, tick, tick. Beth’s boss at Crisis Point insists on airing an update on the case, but Beth knows the show is going to get it wrong, and its reputation will be ruined. Meanwhile, there’s an electric sexual tension between Beth and John that the author toys with nicely—do they, or don’t they? The answer plays out in detail more than once. The characters are fun if easy to pigeonhole: the detective angry at his failure, the honest (and beautiful) outsider eager to do her job but susceptible to love, the hero’s corrupt (to say the least) boss, and the ogre who carries out said boss’s dirtiest deeds. Even John’s dog, Mutt, plays a small but vital role. When John found him, he’d been “a flea-bitten hide wrapped around a skeleton that whimpered.” Little plot devices are easy to spot, like the phone that rings at a crucial moment, or the handgun that John places in Beth’s hand for her protection. Does Chekhov’s guideline apply here? The romantic angle leavens the dark theme, and readers will have plenty of incentives to turn the pages.
A satisfying crime novel with a side order of romance.Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781538742983
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
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