A satisfying, Gothic-flavored rescue fantasy.
A disfigured man is drawn to a woman working under duress in a New Orleans bordello in Smith’s post–Civil War dark romance novel.
Philippe Renault, who has “an ultra-thin, round, black leather patch that lay flat and flush over the apple of his left cheek,” is being shown his options in a New Orleans bordello circa 1870. He spots a dark-haired beauty seemingly about to pitch herself down the stairs. The madam warns him that this woman, named Lilah, is “very disagreeable.” Undeterred, Renault requests Lilah, with whom he feels an affinity since she has the “same vanquished, hopeless look” that he had during the time when he was kidnapped by Romani people and made to perform as a circus freak due to his congenitally scarred face. Renault takes Lilah home to his nearby manor. When Lilah has a traumatic response to his rose petal–strewn bed, he refrains from pursuing a sexual encounter. Renault and Lilah (or Diana, as he later comes to know her) intellectually connect over books in his library. The novel proceeds to detail Lilah and Renault’s growing mutual attraction and the eventual revelations of Lilah’s dark secrets. After a physical consummation of their love, Renault realizes that “It wouldn’t surprise him if the next time he looked in the mirror, he saw Diana’s face instead of his own.” Attempting to save Lilah/Diana from her miserable circumstances, Renault takes actions that, in his mind, mark him as forever damned. The author has crafted an atmospheric, intense amalgam of The Phantom of the Opera and Beauty and the Beast. Smith gracefully handles the alternating mood and tone required for the masked Renault and Lilah to bond over books as well as engage in carnality. While Smith has the couple endure travails that are at times unbelievably nightmarish, these elements are also typical of the dark romance genre, and the back-to-earth conclusion is a particularly satisfying relief and catharsis after the drama and angst that preceded it.
A satisfying, Gothic-flavored rescue fantasy.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 215
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
SEEN & HEARD
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
