Funny and earnest, just like a perfect drag performance.
A Filipino American man dusts off his internet-famous drag queen persona to help save his ex’s karaoke bar.
Rex Araneta has a lot of desires: his former college boyfriend, fashion and drag, and a place to go for a damn good karaoke performance. By fate, those interests all converge when he realizes that Aaron Berry, the guy who got away, is the new manager at the Pink Unicorn, a failing gay bar in Oakland. To help breathe some energy into the place, Rex decides to revive his drag persona, Regina Moon Dee, a former viral sensation, to host a karaoke night. As the Pink Unicorn’s drag-hosted karaoke nights gain more and more attention, Rex worries about the potential fallout should he be exposed as Regina. Not only is he still healing from a long-held trauma and his father’s stark disapproval, but Aaron has been vocal about his own dislike of the drag scene. Thankfully, the romance is a bit of a bait and switch, as Rex begins to realize that his found family might contain a new love and that he doesn’t need to waste time pining for a man who only accepts half of him. More and more people get roped into covering up Rex’s secret identity, from his sister to his mom to the bar’s energetic and very cute DJ, Paolo; it’s only a matter of time before things come to a head. At its core, this is more a love letter to the drag community and to the theater and artistry of drag performance than a romance. The relationship blossoms slowly, is more sweet than sexy, and doesn’t quite feel like the focal point.
Funny and earnest, just like a perfect drag performance.Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9781538725405
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
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
A charming dual-timeline romance about learning from past mistakes.
In Yarros’ latest romance novel, a young woman hires a handsome but infuriating writer to complete her late great-grandmother’s half-finished book.
After her marriage to a Hollywood producer ends in high-profile divorce, 28-year-old Georgia Stanton returns to her childhood home in Colorado. When she arrives at the house where she was raised by her great-grandma—the famous romance author Scarlett Stanton—she finds her mother, Ava, lying in wait. Georgia is in possession of the only unfinished manuscript that her deceased relative left behind, and her own mom wants her to sell the rights so they can get some cash. Georgia succumbs to the pressure and enters a deal in which another author will finish the book’s second half. The manuscript tells Scarlett’s life story, including how she found, and lost, her one true love. Georgia feels strongly that the finished novel must reflect the true events of Scarlett’s life, as difficult as they may have been. Unfortunately, the publishers hire Noah Harrison, a stubborn writer at the height of his career, who has his own fictional vision for the novel’s ending. As Noah and Georgia butt heads, each of them researches Scarlett’s history in England during World War II. As they learn more about Scarlett and Jameson Stanton, the fighter pilot she loved, Georgia and Noah must navigate their own increasingly complicated relationship. With two equally engrossing storylines, this book will draw in even seasoned romance readers. As the story jumps between past and present, the author also alternates present-day perspectives between Georgia and Noah, moving deftly between her characters’ distinct voices. The relationships are well developed, and the love that Scarlett felt for Jameson is especially palpable. Along with the sweetly romantic themes, the book explores several heftier topics, including personal ambition, grief, family discord, and self-esteem. The story has a few digressions that do little to advance the plot, but the main characters are sufficiently engrossing that readers will want to stick with them to the end.
A charming dual-timeline romance about learning from past mistakes.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68281-566-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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