A beautifully told blend of grief, hope, and humor that showcases Higgins at her best.
A woman gets revenge—and a whole new life—when her husband announces he’s leaving her the day before their son graduates from high school.
Lillie Silva is heartbroken that her only son, Dylan, is about to graduate from high school and leave their home in Cape Cod to attend college all the way in Montana. But she knows she’ll still be plenty busy—she has a wonderful job as a nurse midwife, family nearby (even if they have their problems), and, best of all, she’s about to surprise her husband, Brad, with a trip to Europe. But when Brad takes her out to dinner the night before Dylan’s graduation, it’s not to celebrate raising their wonderful son—it’s to tell her he wants a divorce because he’s in love with Melissa Finch, a much younger woman who recently moved to town. Lillie had dreamed of handling her son’s departure by commiserating with the only other person who really understood—but now she’ll be spending all her time alone. With a lot of free time on her hands, Lillie starts playing small pranks on Brad—like, for example, unleashing a skunk in his new home. It’s not all laughs, though—Lillie feels a deep grief over the loss of the life she had, one with a devoted husband, family holidays, and all the little routines she thought would last forever. She also mourns the daughter she delivered stillborn years ago and imagines how much less lonely her life would be if that daughter had lived. As she adjusts to being on her own, Lillie starts to reconnect with people from her past—including her former classmate Ben Hallowell, who was behind the wheel in a car accident that nearly ended Lillie’s life. And when she befriends Ophelia, Melissa’s niece (who lives with her), Lillie realizes that life still has plenty of surprises in store. Higgins manages to address a plethora of tough topics, including infertility and sexual assault, and give them the respect they deserve while also crafting a story that’s full of hope. With a blend of humor and poignancy reminiscent of Nora Ephron’s Heartburn, Lillie’s witty narration never obscures the very real devastation that she feels as the family she loved breaks apart.
A beautifully told blend of grief, hope, and humor that showcases Higgins at her best.Pub Date: June 7, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-33532-1
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop.
Three women deal very differently with vampirism in Schwab’s era-spanning follow-up to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020).
In 16th-century Spain, Maria seduces a wealthy viscount in an attempt to seize whatever control she can over her own life. It turns out that being a wife—even a wealthy one—is just another cage, but then a mysterious widow offers Maria a surprising escape route. In the 19th century, Charlotte is sent from her home in the English countryside to live with an aunt in London when she’s found trying to kiss her best friend. She’s despondent at the idea of marrying a man, but another mysterious widow—who has a secret connection to Maria’s widow from centuries earlier—appears and teaches Charlotte that she can be free to love whomever she chooses, if she’s brave enough. In 2019, Alice’s memories of growing up in Scotland with her mercurial older sister, Catty, pull her mind away from her first days at Harvard University. And though she doesn’t meet any mysterious widows, Alice wakes up alone after a one-night stand unable to tolerate sunlight, sporting two new fangs, and desperate to drink blood. Horrified at her transformation, she searches Boston for her hookup, who was the last person she remembers seeing before she woke up as a vampire. Schwab delicately intertwines the three storylines, which are compelling individually even before the reader knows how they will connect. Maria, Charlotte, and Alice are queer women searching for love, recognition, and wholeness, growing fangs and defying mortality in a world that would deny them their very existence. Alice’s flashbacks to Catty are particularly moving, and subtly play off themes of grief and loneliness laid out in the historical timelines.
A beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop.Pub Date: June 10, 2025
ISBN: 9781250320520
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
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
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