A romance between charming characters is sidelined by weighty subplots.
A woman desperate to prove her value to her family’s house-flipping business falls in love with her foreman.
Bethany Castle used to embrace her perfectionist tendencies, but lately, those urges are starting to control her. Even a job she used to love—staging homes for her family’s Long Island construction business—has become stultifying and unsatisfying. Bethany dreams of leading her own project; she knows she's capable of more than selecting paint colors and arranging furniture. When her brother responds to her dream with derision, Bethany furiously quits the business. She starts her own project and hires handsome newcomer Wes Daniels as her foreman. Wes is a recent transplant from San Antonio. When his sister’s marriage disintegrated a few months earlier, she asked him to care for her 5-year-old daughter so she could get her head together. Wes has taken a job working construction, awed and bewildered at how, at 23, he’s settled down into sudden respectability and what feels a lot like fatherhood. Wes thinks his razor-sharp banter with Bethany is flirtation while Bethany is horrified at her wild attraction to a man seven years her junior. Catching wind of the Castle family feud, a TV producer persuades Bethany and her brother to appear on a reality TV show that will judge which one of them flips their house most successfully. Although Bailey creates likable characters and writes snappy dialogue, the subplots about the TV show and Wes’ guardianship of his niece interferes with Bethany and Wes’ emotional development as partners and lovers. The two are conquering their own demons on separate journeys, and their unevenly paced romance only flares to life in the final third of the book.
A romance between charming characters is sidelined by weighty subplots.Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-287293-7
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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
© Copyright 2024 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.
