A wacky yet touching tale about love, truth, and acceptance.
A down-and-out writer lands a gig ghostwriting a celebrity’s memoir—only to discover he’s writing for an actual ghost.
Adam Gallagher’s career is, for lack of a better word, dying. A decade after publishing Salt Lake City Sodomite, the bestselling recount of his Mormon upbringing and public excommunication, Adam hasn’t written anything nearly as successful. Paul, his agent, has barely spoken to him in ages when he invites him out to a swanky steak dinner to tell him that Roland Rogers has personally requested him to write his coming-out story. Roland is a household name, a modern-day Cary Grant who stars as Crag Dynamite in a popular action movie franchise. After decades in the limelight as a charming bachelor, Roland is ready to speak his truth: He’s gay. Who better to write his story than his favorite author, who publicly came out all those years ago? After getting all the details from Paul, Adam sets out to spend a month at Roland’s Malibu mansion and transcribe the superstar’s story, as requested, by hand. But when Adam arrives at the celebrity’s doorstep, there’s just one tiny little hiccup: Roland is dead. After having suffered an accident on a solo backcountry skiing trip, Roland’s body remains buried under mountains of snow, but his spirit haunts his California mansion through various electrical appliances. With Adam’s help, he plans to use his book to come out before news spreads of his death. After the initial shock of meeting a ghost, Adam is prepared to fulfill Roland’s dying wish—his own career depends on it. As weeks pass, Adam and Roland develop a connection neither has felt, alive or dead, but Adam can’t help but wonder…Why now? Allen’s supernatural tale is eccentric, funny, and pleasantly peculiar. Adam and Roland are unconventional protagonists: two middle-aged men, one wildly famous and the other comically downtrodden, both searching for a sense of self. Allen offers readers an unlikely romance, sprinkled with lust, regret, humor, and even paranormal activity, and somehow it absolutely works.
A wacky yet touching tale about love, truth, and acceptance.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9781638931539
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Zando
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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