A compulsively readable story about self-discovery with plenty of laughs and spice along the way.
An audiobook narrator and former actress gets more than she bargained for when she performs a book with the audiobook world’s sexiest and most mysterious voice.
Sewanee Chester grew up dreaming of being an actress, and for a short while, she made that dream a reality. But before her career could take off, an accident caused her to lose an eye and derailed her path to stardom. Now Sewanee narrates audiobooks, using all the talent and passion she once showed onscreen to bring the pages of books to life. When Sewanee isn’t working, she visits her former actress grandmother in an assisted living facility. Since Sewanee’s accident, everything about her life is orderly and planned…until she attends a book convention and ends up spending a romantic night with a stranger. Despite that one out-of-character night, Sewanee isn’t a romantic—that’s why she now says no to narrating romance novels, despite starting her career with them. After being disappointed by real life one too many times, she doesn’t believe in happily-ever-afters. But when she gets an offer to narrate a posthumous book from a romance novelist she once worked with, she agrees—only because she needs the money to help pay for her grandmother’s care. She’ll be performing the book with Brock McNight, a narrator who’s as sexy as he is secretive—people may know his voice, but they’ve never seen the man behind it. As Sewanee begins working with Brock, trading texts and emails, they forge a connection that goes beyond the book. But Sewanee quickly learns that showing vulnerability in real life is harder than performing it. Can she be brave enough to follow her dreams, even if it means risking failure? And do her old dreams even fit into her new life? Whelan, a celebrated audiobook narrator and actress herself (as well as the author of a previous novel, My Oxford Year, 2018), brings an incredible amount of realism to her descriptions of Sewanee’s career. Although there’s plenty of tragedy and angst in Sewanee’s life, there’s also a lot of humor (the story opens with a laugh-out-loud scene involving a particularly racy romance novel being played at full volume to unsuspecting airplane passengers). Sewanee and Brock have crackling chemistry in their innuendo-laden texts, and there are love scenes as steamy as the ones Sewanee narrates. Whelan also shows an awareness and appreciation of romance tropes that lead to a fun and slightly meta reading experience. Although the romance is a standout, Sewanee’s journey of self-acceptance is the real star.
A compulsively readable story about self-discovery with plenty of laughs and spice along the way.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-309556-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Sink your teeth into this delightful paranormal romance with a modern twist.
A vampire and an Alpha werewolf enter into a marriage of convenience in order to ease tensions between their species.
As the only daughter of a prominent Vampyre councilman, Misery Lark has grown accustomed to playing the role that’s demanded of her—and now, her father is ordering her to be part of yet another truce agreement. In an effort to maintain goodwill between the Vampyres and their longtime nemeses the Weres, Misery must wed their Alpha, Lowe Moreland. But it turns out that Misery has her own motivations for agreeing to this political marriage, including finding answers about what happened to her best friend, who went missing after setting up a meeting in Were territory. Isolated from her kind and surrounded on all sides by the enemy after the wedding, Misery refuses to let herself forget about her real mission. It doesn’t matter that Lowe is one of the most confounding and intense people she’s ever met, or that the connection building between them doesn’t feel like one born entirely of convenience. There’s also the possibility that Lowe may already have a Were mate of his own, but in spite of their biological differences, they may turn out to be the missing piece in each other’s lives. While this is Hazelwood’s first paranormal romance, and the book does lean on some hallmark tropes of the genre, the contemporary setting lends itself to the author’s trademark humor and makes the political plot more easily digestible. Misery and Lowe’s slow-burn romance is appealing enough that readers will readily devour every moment between them and hunger to return to them whenever the story diverts from their scenes together.
Sink your teeth into this delightful paranormal romance with a modern twist.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9780593550403
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
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