A tumultuous, tension-filled romance that’ll leave your head spinning.
When an elite ballerina returns to her summer home to nurse an injury, she’s greeted by many ghosts from her past.
Everyone expects perfection from Alessandra Rousseau. How could they not, when she’s the daughter of the renowned dance teacher Sophie Langevin-Rousseau and sister to the ballerinas Lina, Anne, and Eva? At 27, Allie has landed a principal spot in New York’s Metropolitan Ballet Company. But perfectionism like hers can shatter in an instant, along with her Achilles tendon. Forced to return to the privacy of her Cape Cod summer home for rehab, Allie is suddenly confronted with memories she buried long ago. Ten years ago on the Cape, her sister Lina died in a car crash that Allie survived—and which her mother blames her for. Something else died with Lina that night: Allie’s relationship with Hudson Ellis. Hudson, now a rescue swimmer for the U.S. Coast Guard, was Allie’s best friend for two summers until he left for basic training without a word after the accident. Allie never thought she would see Hudson again, but his return brings an even bigger surprise: a niece she hadn’t known about, a child named Juniper whom Hudson’s sister, Caroline, had adopted as a baby 10 years ago. Juniper has the looks and the DNA test to prove that she’s not only a full Rousseau, but somehow Lina’s child. All Juniper wants is to practice ballet, but Caroline forbids her. Begrudgingly, Allie agrees to fake date Hudson to get on Caroline’s good side and help her niece train for a competition. Returning home proves more complicated than Allie could have foreseen: How could she have not known Lina had a daughter? Why did Hudson ghost her after Lina’s death? And even after all the hurt he caused her, how could she be falling for him? Yarros brings the heat with passion, drama, and page after page of plot twists. The Rousseau family weaves a twisted knot throughout the story, and Yarros inundates the reader with enough curveballs and steamy scenes to keep them interested (if not a little bewildered).
A tumultuous, tension-filled romance that’ll leave your head spinning.Pub Date: Nov. 19, 2024
ISBN: 9781662514708
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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
Deeply moving and emotional.
A hockey player falls in love with his tutor.
Matt “Freddy” Fredderic is the life of the party at Waterfell University. He’s a starter on the hockey team and can have any girl on campus—but he’s also in danger of failing out if he can’t improve his grades in math and biology. His ADHD, dyslexia, and dyscalculia make him eligible for university tutoring services, and Ro Shariff is his newly assigned tutor. Ro had a crush on Freddy freshman year but convinced herself that she’s over it now, in her senior year. She’s been in an on-again, off-again relationship with a guy named Tyler for the past two years, but he’s manipulative, borderline abusive, and probably cheating on her. Ro is desperate for love and affection and still suffers from bouts of intense homesickness. She and Freddy develop a tentative friendship even though they couldn’t be more different on the surface—he’s a popular, gregarious athlete to her quiet, introverted academic. Ro sees beyond Freddy’s persona as a dumb jock, while he recognizes that she feels lonely and like an outsider. When Freddy swoops in to rescue Ro after an ugly disagreement with Tyler, the two admit that their feelings for each other are more romantic than friendly. Corinne’s second novel is an emotional powerhouse. Ro and Freddy share everything with each other: fears of not being good enough for their friends, details of their harmful previous romantic relationships, and the deep feelings of grief related to illness and loss of parents. They have to learn to trust themselves and each other in the midst of the pressures that come with transitioning from college to adulthood. Their evolution from friends to lovers is a classic slow burn, and it makes for an angsty and deeply affecting read.
Deeply moving and emotional.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781668068489
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: tomorrow
© 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.
