A page-turning premise that gets overshadowed by its unlikable heroine.
YOU DESERVE EACH OTHER
by Sarah Hogle ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 7, 2020
Naomi Westfield and her perfect fiance, Nicholas Rose, are just a few short months away from walking down the aisle. But there's one big flaw in their seemingly idyllic relationship: She hates him.
Naomi is an underachiever who works at a local junk store that's on its last legs. She isn't close to her family, her only friends are her ragtag bunch of co-workers, and she is so run down by her fiance's overbearing mother that she has all but checked out of her own life. But when she discovers that Nicholas is just as tired of her as she is of him, Naomi decides to wage a war in the form of petty pranks, mind games, and general sabotage to get Nicholas to call off the wedding. Nicholas, the upstanding dentist who nevertheless cowers in the shadow of his mother's expectations, responds by buying a house in the woods. He is convinced the move will save their relationship, but Naomi is dubious. At this point it's clear that the novel would be greatly improved by a dual narrative—Naomi is so utterly convinced of Nicholas' hatred and lack of interest (despite all evidence to the contrary), and responds so cruelly based on her convictions, that it's difficult to understand why Nicholas would want to marry her at all. Although self-centered Naomi eventually comes to the realization that she has been ignoring the realities of her relationship, it's a revelation that arrives far too late—all the romance in this overlong rom-com is relegated to the last few pages. There are glimmers of important discussions about mental illnesses like anxiety and depersonalization, but they never go past surface level, a lost opportunity to elevate the text.
Pub Date: April 7, 2020
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
Categories: GENERAL ROMANCE | ROMANCE | CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
A clever, romantic, sexy love story.
Kirkus Reviews'
IndieBound Bestseller
RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE
by Casey McQuiston ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 4, 2019
The much-loved royal romance genre gets a fun and refreshing update in McQuiston's debut.
Alex Claremont-Diaz, son of the American President Ellen Claremont, knows one thing for sure: He hates Henry, the British prince to whom he is always compared. He lives for their verbal sparring matches, but when one of their fights at a royal wedding goes a bit too far, they end up falling into a wedding cake and making tabloid headlines. An international scandal could ruin Alex's mother's chances for re-election, so it's time for damage control. The plan? Alex and Henry must pretend to be best friends, giving the tabloids pictures of their bromance and neutralizing the threat to Ellen's presidency. But after a few photo ops with Henry, Alex starts to realize that the passionate anger he feels toward him might be a cover for regular old passion. There are, naturally, a million roadblocks between their first kiss and their happily-ever-after—how can American political royalty and actual British royalty ever be together? How can they navigate being open about their sexualities (Alex is bisexual; Henry is gay) in their very public and very scrutinized roles? Alex and Henry must decide if they'll risk their futures, their families, and their careers to take a chance on happiness. Although the story's premise might be a fantasy—it takes place in a world in which a divorced-mom Texan Democrat won the 2016 election—the emotions are all real. The love affair between Alex and Henry is intense and romantic, made all the more so by the inclusion of their poetic emails that manage to be both funny and steamy. McQuiston's strength is in dialogue; her characters speak in hilarious rapid-fire bursts with plenty of "likes," "ums," creative punctuation, and pop-culture references, sounding like smarter, funnier versions of real people. Although Alex and Henry's relationship is the heart of the story, their friends and family members are all rich, well-drawn characters, and their respective worlds feel both realistic and larger-than-life.
Pub Date: June 4, 2019
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
Categories: GENERAL ROMANCE | ROMANCE | LBGTQ
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A promising start to a series, provided Roberts can flesh out her derivative heroine.
by Nora Roberts ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 17, 2012
A young woman in hiding from the Russian mob faces a difficult decision when she falls in love with a cop.
Abigail, 28, lives alone in the bucolic hamlet of Bickford, Ark., in an isolated house, fortified with firearms, a state-of-the-art alarm system and a vicious dog named Bert. When the town's genial police chief, Brooks, suspects Abigail is packing while shopping for gourmet groceries, his curiosity soon morphs into courtship. Although she finds herself drawn to Brooks and to his welcoming, bohemian family, Abigail dares not reveal that her real name is Liz—which is not the only way in which she appears to be Roberts' answer to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Gifted with an eidetic memory, an IQ over 200 and an affinity for cool, calculated mayhem, Liz/Abigail is a skilled hacker and a highly paid security consultant. In her spare time she investigates the Russian mob and the crooked federal agents who are responsible for her current predicament; whenever possible, she throws virtual monkey wrenches into the mob's Internet scams. When she witnesses an altercation between Brooks and the wastrel son of a local magnate, she's thrust back into the horror of the last time she witnessed a crime. At 16, rebelling against an unloving, controlling mother, Liz and a girlfriend, Julie, visited a Chicago nightclub run by the Russian Mafia, where Ilya, son of gang kingpin Sergei, and Alexi, a cousin, seduced them with Cosmos. Later, at Alexi's lakeside home, Liz was an unseen witness to a hit on Alexi by Sergei's enforcers, who also killed Julie. Managing to escape, Liz was forced to run again when two dirty FBI agents destroyed her safe house and murdered her guards. A person of interest to both the Feds and the mob, she's been on the lam for 12 years. Before they can marry, Brooks must help Liz come in from the cold.
Pub Date: April 17, 2012
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
Categories: GENERAL ROMANCE | ROMANCE
THE RISE OF MAGICKS