A touching tale of adult reckonings and reunions with some heart-tugging reversals.
A young performer in a family band and the daughter of an ultrarich New York business mogul fall in love in Ready’s contemporary romance novel.
A young man named Jace Morgan races through New York’s Central Park to try to stop a wedding, sharing an intense look with the bride when he arrives. “I almost can’t reconcile the Andi lying in my arms last night with the Andi standing in the gazebo,” he muses. The narrative then cycles back to Jace at 17 years old, being taunted by Reid Shilling and other rich boys from the private school that he attends on scholarship. The bullies disperse when the fight is broken up by a girl named Andrea Leighton-Hughes, who introduces herself as Andi. The teens hang out and fall in love. Jace plays guitar in a band called the Morgan Brothers with his brothers, Dean and River. His musician parents were the victims of a shooting incident in a Bronx bodega, forcing eldest son Dean to take on construction work to support the family while also trying to score their band gigs. Jace chokes up singing in public, but he is able to relax when he sees Andi at their shows. When the band gets a last-minute job at a charity gala, Jace discovers that Andi is the daughter of Robert Chatham Leighton-Hughes, one of the richest men in Manhattan. She tells him that she is merely a “chess piece” in her family and that she has a particularly cold mother. Andi travels with Jace for months when the band gets a national tour but returns to New York following a shocking betrayal. Andi forms new bonds with both Reid and her mother while Jace contends with fame and family issues. Years later, the lovers reconnect and move forward.
The author has written an entertaining, emotion-laden rich girl–poor boy romance. The novel effectively celebrates and leverages its New York City setting, with several key scenes taking place in Central Park, specifically in Belvedere Castle. Andi’s overbearing family amusingly parallels that of a real-life New York real estate mogul and former president: They live on the top floors of a gilded, garish tower; Andi’s brothers (including a Robert Jr.) vie for attention; and the matriarch is glamorous and enigmatic. Several of the book’s wealthy characters end up inspiring sympathy in ways that are surprising yet satisfying. Adding to the novel’s engaging web of plot twists are moments in which band members commit or confess to some rather grave misdeeds. Some of the periods of estrangement the lovers experience come off as a bit far-fetched, particularly a separation precipitated in part by a letter gone astray. Andi’s motivation for her marriage, however, is developed beautifully by the author to exploit its full potential for pathos. This subplot also allows for a lovely moment of contemplation by the ostensible antagonist, Reid, that provides context for the novel’s title: “And my therapist said that the best way to move through grief is to concentrate on the right now. Not the past, not the future, just this moment right here. That small space between the past and the future. Like the moment between the inhale and the exhale.” A touching tale of adult reckonings and reunions with some heart-tugging reversals.Pub Date: July 25, 2023
ISBN: 9781954007536
Page Count: 540
Publisher: W.W. Crown
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A wallowing, emotionally wrenching family drama that leaves little time for romance.
Two people with bad luck in relationships find each other through a popular Reddit thread.
Emma Grant and her best friend, Maddy, are travel nurses, working at hospitals for three-month stints while they see the country. Just a few weeks before they’re set to move to Hawaii, Emma reads a popular “Am I the Asshole” Reddit thread from a Minnesota man who thinks he’s cursed—women he dates find their soulmates after breaking up with him, and the latest one found true love with his best friend! Emma has had a similar experience, which inspires her to DM the man and commiserate. She’s delighted by her witty, lively interactions with software engineer Justin Dahl, and is intrigued when he suggests that if they date each other, maybe they’ll each find their soulmate afterward. Emma upends the Hawaii plan and convinces Maddy to move to Minneapolis for the summer so she can meet Justin in person. The overly complex setup brings Emma and Justin together and the two hit it off, with Justin immediately falling head over heels for Emma. Jimenez then pivots to creating romantic roadblocks and melodramatic subplots centering on each character’s family of origin. Justin’s mother is about to serve six years in prison for embezzlement, which means Justin must move back home to care for his three much younger siblings. Emma was traumatized by her own mother for much of her childhood, left to fend for herself and eventually abandoned in the foster system. When her mother shows up in Minnesota, Emma must face her traumatic childhood and admit that she has prioritized her mother’s well-being over her own. There is little time devoted to Emma’s painful efforts to heal herself enough to accept Justin’s love, which leaves the novel feeling unsatisfying.
A wallowing, emotionally wrenching family drama that leaves little time for romance.Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781538704431
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A warm and winning "When Harry Met Sally…" update that hits all the perfect notes.
A travel writer has one last shot at reconnecting with the best friend she just might be in love with.
Poppy and Alex couldn't be more different. She loves wearing bright colors while he prefers khakis and a T-shirt. She likes just about everything while he’s a bit more discerning. And yet, their opposites-attract friendship works because they love each other…in a totally platonic way. Probably. Even though they have their own separate lives (Poppy lives in New York City and is a travel writer with a popular Instagram account; Alex is a high school teacher in their tiny Ohio hometown), they still manage to get together each summer for one fabulous vacation. They grow closer every year, but Poppy doesn’t let herself linger on her feelings for Alex—she doesn’t want to ruin their friendship or the way she can be fully herself with him. They continue to date other people, even bringing their serious partners on their summer vacations…but then, after a falling-out, they stop speaking. When Poppy finds herself facing a serious bout of ennui, unhappy with her glamorous job and the life she’s been dreaming of forever, she thinks back to the last time she was truly happy: her last vacation with Alex. And so, though they haven’t spoken in two years, she asks him to take another vacation with her. She’s determined to bridge the gap that’s formed between them and become best friends again, but to do that, she’ll have to be honest with Alex—and herself—about her true feelings. In chapters that jump around in time, Henry shows readers the progression (and dissolution) of Poppy and Alex’s friendship. Their slow-burn love story hits on beloved romance tropes (such as there unexpectedly being only one bed on the reconciliation trip Poppy plans) while still feeling entirely fresh. Henry’s biggest strength is in the sparkling, often laugh-out-loud-funny dialogue, particularly the banter-filled conversations between Poppy and Alex. But there’s depth to the story, too—Poppy’s feeling of dissatisfaction with a life that should be making her happy as well as her unresolved feelings toward the difficult parts of her childhood make her a sympathetic and relatable character. The end result is a story that pays homage to classic romantic comedies while having a point of view all its own.
A warm and winning "When Harry Met Sally…" update that hits all the perfect notes.Pub Date: May 11, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0675-8
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
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