An often frothy romance that manages to expertly combine emotional heft with pure escapism.
In Ready’s novel, a young woman receives a magical watch and then, after she falls in love, fights to make her dream life a reality.
The third book in Ready’s Ghosted series introduces Moonbeam Clover Fiona Abry (who’s insisted on going by “Fiona” ever since she was 8 years old). After inheriting her family’s Swiss watch business in Geneva following her father’s death, she and her brother, Daniel, have managed to pull the business out of near-bankruptcy. Fiona, a single mother, decided long ago to never open herself up to love, mainly because her own flighty mother intermittently abandoned her as a child. Her best friend, Max,still tries his hardest to woo her nevertheless. Fiona’s mother gives her a long-lost family heirloom—a watch from her heretofore unknown Uncle Leopold. When Fiona wears it, the watch gives Fiona dreams of her greatest desire. Fiona finds herself on a tropical island where everyone calls her “Becca”; she’s married to a handsome man named McCormick and has two delightful young children. Fiona decides to settle back and enjoy her recurrent dreams, since she feels her heart is protected from truly caring about this “fantasy”; then she unexpectedly begins to fall hopelessly in love with her sensitive, thoughtful dream husband. Although Fiona attempts to try her hand at romance with Max in reality, she can’t stop thinking about McCormick. A series of shocking twists make Fiona question everything she thought she knew—including herself.
Readers of conventional romances come to expect certain genre elements, and Ready does indeed deliver them over the course of this novel, but her real talent comes in subverting such familiar beats just enough so that readers begin to question how (or even if) certain events will come to pass. Although the book has plenty of swoonworthy romance—McCormick is basically a beach god—the author also hits on heavier themes that are less common in the genre, including abandonment, infidelity, motherhood, and duty. Ready has a lot to say about each, and she does so with wit and empathy. At one point, for example, when Fiona explainshow she fell in love with McCormick in her dreams, she describes it as “a gradual thing, like the flow of the gentle tide washing over a softly sanded golden beach. At least that’s what I tell myself when I’m lying….Well, we don’t lie in dreams, do we? Everyone knows that dreams are where we tell ourselves the truth.” The dialogue feels pleasantly natural throughout, and almost all the characters are well developed. That said, a few people, such as McCormick’s supposed best friend, Robert, veer into caricature. Fiona’s and Max’s attempts at moving their nine-year friendship into romantic territory is particularly earnest and realistic—so much so that readers might even have trouble deciding whether the very real Max or the very dreamy McCormick is the best match for Fiona.
An often frothy romance that manages to expertly combine emotional heft with pure escapism.Pub Date: July 16, 2024
ISBN: 9781954007772
Page Count: 492
Publisher: W.W. Crown
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.
A promise to his best friend leads an Army serviceman to a family in need and a chance at true love in this novel.
Beckett Gentry is surprised when his Army buddy Ryan MacKenzie gives him a letter from Ryan’s sister, Ella. Abandoned by his mother, Beckett grew up in a series of foster homes. He is wary of attachments until he reads Ella’s letter. A single mother, Ella lives with her twins, Maisie and Colt, at Solitude, the resort she operates in Telluride, Colorado. They begin a correspondence, although Beckett can only identify himself by his call sign, Chaos. After Ryan’s death during a mission, Beckett travels to Telluride as his friend had requested. He bonds with the twins while falling deeply in love with Ella. Reluctant to reveal details of Ryan’s death and risk causing her pain, Beckett declines to disclose to Ella that he is Chaos. Maisie needs treatment for neuroblastoma, and Beckett formally adopts the twins as a sign of his commitment to support Ella and her children. He and Ella pursue a romance, but when an insurance investigator questions the adoption, Beckett is faced with revealing the truth about the letters and Ryan’s death, risking losing the family he loves. Yarros’ (Wilder, 2016, etc.) novel is a deeply felt and emotionally nuanced contemporary romance bolstered by well-drawn characters and strong, confident storytelling. Beckett and Ella are sympathetic protagonists whose past experiences leave them cautious when it comes to love. Beckett never knew the security of a stable home life. Ella impulsively married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended when he discovered she was pregnant. The author is especially adept at developing the characters through subtle but significant details, like Beckett’s aversion to swearing. Beckett and Ella’s romance unfolds slowly in chapters that alternate between their first-person viewpoints. The letters they exchanged are pivotal to their connection, and almost every chapter opens with one. Yarros’ writing is crisp and sharp, with passages that are poetic without being florid. For example, in a letter to Beckett, Ella writes of motherhood: “But I’m not the center of their universe. I’m more like their gravity.” While the love story is the book’s focus, the subplot involving Maisie’s illness is equally well-developed, and the link between Beckett and the twins is heartfelt and sincere.
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-533-3
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Jan. 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The forbidden romance trope fails because the conflict is so pedestrian.
A professional hockey player has feelings for the one woman he can’t have: his soon-to-be stepsister.
Sig Gauthier loves his job playing defense for the Boston Bearcats, and he’s proved himself a real asset to the team. When this season ends, he will renegotiate his mediocre, low-paying contract, one he accepted while injured and desperate for any team to sign him. When his father asks him to come to dinner to meet his new girlfriend, Sig decides to go, since it’s only a few hours’ drive to Darien, Connecticut, and he’s curious. On the way, his ancient truck breaks down, and he pulls into a country club parking lot where he meets Chloe Clifford, the most beautiful, alluring woman he’s ever seen. Chloe dreams of accepting a seat as a harpist at a conservatory in Boston; however, her wealthy, controlling mother wants her to stay in Darien. That night at dinner, Sig is surprised to find Chloe there—and when they discover their parents are planning to marry each other, they realize they can only be friends themselves. Sig encourages Chloe to come with him to Boston, where he rents her an apartment despite it being a massive financial burden. Several months pass. They long for each other, but studiously ignore their incendiary sexual chemistry and remain friends. When the press realizes that Sig’s biggest fan is his soon-to-be-stepsister, his new general manager tells him he must choose between Chloe or re-signing with the team. Everything rests on the premise that two people who meet as adults would be entering into a taboo, forbidden relationship because their parents are about to marry. Although Bailey does her best to sell it, the pretext keeping her characters apart is thin and underdeveloped. Chloe and Sig are wild for each other from the second they meet, which negates any attempt to create tension or conflict.
The forbidden romance trope fails because the conflict is so pedestrian.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780063380783
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
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