A delightful homage to Austen with plenty of its own romantic charm.
An actress and her uptight British co-star travel back in time to the days of Jane Austen.
Tess Bright is still reeling from the death of her beloved mother when she’s very publicly fired from the goofy teen soap she’s worked on for years—but her new project may be her salvation. It’s an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, which feels fated because Tess’ mother loved Austen. Tess needs this movie to showcase her best work, save her career, and honor her mother’s memory—but that’s difficult when her co-star, Hugh Balfour, will barely deign to speak to her. He looks down on her previous work and he’s grumpy—in other words, he’s a real Mr. Darcy. They need convincing onscreen chemistry, but the two of them can’t even be in a scene together without arguing. Then, when an accident causes an electrical shock, Tess and Hugh are sent back 200 years to the era of Austen. Suddenly, Hugh is living as one of his ancestors on the Balfour family’s estate, and Tess is forced to pose as a widow who is now Hugh’s betrothed. The two of them need to figure out how to make their way back to their real lives as quickly as possible, without creating too much suspicion around their anachronistic ways, but coming across an electrical shock is rather difficult in a time when electrical features don’t exist. As they attempt to travel back to modern times, they must make the best of their current situation. They attend balls, make friends, and get to know each other in a way they never did on set. Along the way, Tess realizes that Hugh’s gruff exterior conceals a man who is much more caring than she ever expected. Bell sprinkles in enough references to Austen’s works to satisfy any fan, but she also creates a love story that is genuinely moving in its own right. Tess and Hugh are both working through grief, which would present a relationship challenge even without the customs of the Regency period. The story blends the wit and stakes of an Austen novel with the steaminess of a modern romance.
A delightful homage to Austen with plenty of its own romantic charm.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781250373519
Page Count: 336
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: yesterday
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 heartfelt look at taking second chances, in life and in love.
Two struggling authors spend the summer writing and falling in love in a quaint beach town.
January Andrews has just arrived in the small town of North Bear Shores with some serious baggage. Her father has been dead for a year, but she still hasn’t come to terms with what she found out at his funeral—he had been cheating on her mother for years. January plans to spend the summer cleaning out and selling the house her father and “That Woman” lived in together. But she’s also a down-on-her-luck author facing writer’s block, and she no longer believes in the happily-ever-after she’s made the benchmark of her work. Her steadily dwindling bank account, though, is a daily reminder that she must sell her next book, and fast. Serendipitously, she discovers that her new next-door neighbor is Augustus Everett, the darling of the literary fiction set and her former college rival/crush. Gus also happens to be struggling with his next book (and some serious trauma that unfolds throughout the novel). Though the two get off to a rocky start, they soon make a bet: Gus will try to write a romance novel, and January will attempt “bleak literary fiction.” They spend the summer teaching each other the art of their own genres—January takes Gus on a romantic outing to the local carnival; Gus takes January to the burned-down remains of a former cult—and they both process their own grief, loss, and trauma through this experiment. There are more than enough steamy scenes to sustain the slow-burn romance, and smart commentary on the placement and purpose of “women’s fiction” joins with crucial conversations about mental health to add multiple intriguing layers to the plot.
A heartfelt look at taking second chances, in life and in love.Pub Date: May 19, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0673-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Jove/Penguin
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
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