Engaging characters with thorny problems have a pat, easy love story.
A professional hockey player falls in love with his tween daughter’s nanny.
Burgess Abraham is 37 and can feel himself aging out of hockey—everything hurts. He refuses to let the team doctors know the extent of his pain, worried it will force him into early retirement. Complicating his life, he’s recently divorced and has shared custody of his daughter, Lissa. Burgess’ punishing travel schedule means he needs help at home, so he hires 26-year-old graduate student Tallulah Aydin to be his daughter’s nanny. Tallulah just moved to Boston for a graduate program in marine biology. She’s flat broke and landing this gig is a financial lifesaver, but she worries that her incendiary chemistry with Burgess will make it hard to keep things professional. Burgess’ feelings of protectiveness toward Tallulah are amplified after she tells him about a traumatic incident from her past. Her move to Boston showed her that she’s been letting fear rule her life, that she’s reluctant to trust people and afraid to live. Burgess offers to help Tallulah check items off her bucket list of adventures, promising to accompany her and keep her safe. In return, Burgess wants to be her boyfriend, not just a casual fling. Unfortunately, Lissa is convinced her parents will get back together and sees Tallulah as an interloper. Bailey fans will find all the classic hallmarks of her style: a plucky heroine matched with a possessive, dirty-talking hero in a high-heat romance. Although the novel engages with deeper themes, its exploration of these difficult topics feels simplistic and superficial. Huge problems are introduced late in the story and then fixed offstage, without readers seeing the work and effort involved.
Engaging characters with thorny problems have a pat, easy love story.Pub Date: July 16, 2024
ISBN: 9780063308435
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
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
Slow and plodding.
A young woman with a magical ability to harness light discovers she is royalty.
Talasyn is a foot soldier for her homeland of Sardovia, which has been under attack for the past decade by the powerful and evil Night Empire, a conflict known as the Hurricane Wars. Talasyn is an orphan with no knowledge of her family, but she assumes they might be the source of her rare, magical Lightweaving talent. During a battle with the forces of the Night Empire, Talasyn spars with Prince Alaric, a fierce warrior who is the son and heir to the Night Emperor. Talasyn is sent on a covert mission into Nenavar, a nearby matriarchy that has remained neutral during the Hurricane Wars, to try to access a Light Sever which could hone and refine her magic. Instead, she discovers she is the heir to their royal throne; she and her mother, now presumed dead, disappeared under mysterious circumstances when she was a year old. Alaric follows her into Nenavar, and they discover his magical ability to cast darkness and shadows produces shocking results when mixed with her Lightweaving. A few weeks later, the Night Empire defeats Sardovia and ends the Hurricane Wars, and the novel transitions to a tedious, slow-moving story of court intrigue and diplomacy. A group of Sardovian soldiers and refugees seek asylum in Nenavar, but Talasyn’s grandmother agrees to protect them only if Talasyn agrees to join the royal court and marry Alaric. The politics surrounding the impending wedding is the primary plot for the rest of the novel, and it’s a slog. The glacially slow pacing only serves to highlight the confusing world building and underdeveloped characters. It’s unclear why Alaric and Talasyn are attracted to each other, and their tentative romance is just as stuck in a rut as the plot.
Slow and plodding.Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9780063277274
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
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