An entertaining and informative work of historical fiction with a strong female protagonist.
A revised edition of Wells’ 2010 aeronautical adventure novel, set in the mid-1930s during an exciting period of aviation design and technological development.
As the novel opens, 20-something Maggie Rockwell, an experienced horse rider, is preparing for a breathtaking stunt that she’s about to perform for a Hollywood movie. While racing on her horse, chased by Old West villains, she’s to escape by grabbing a ladder dangling from an airplane flown by her rescuer. Piloting the plane is Luke Whitney, a decorated World War I aviator, stunt pilot, and veteran of the aeronautical Bendix Trophy Race from New York to Los Angeles. He’s also been giving Maggie lessons in stunt flying, and she has her heart set on entering this year’s Bendix Race, which has just reopened to women, who were barred from the race for several years. Maggie is determined to win, but she needs money, a plane, and a sponsor. Meanwhile, Fernando Underwood, an aeronautical engineering student, stable manager, and polo instructor extraordinaire, is working at the racetrack near the film-shoot location. He’s a handsome, multitalented man of mystery who’s working to pay his way through college; before long, his and Maggie’s paths cross, and a romance ensues. Wells’ novel was inspired by the actual 1936 Bendix Trophy Race, which was won for the first time by two women (Louise Thaden and Blanche Wilcox Noyes). The relationship between Maggie and Fernando adds a tender, engaging touch to the proceedings. However, the novel’s main strength rests in the explicit descriptions of the new Staggerwing biplane that Maggie pilots during the race—a revolutionary design that positions the front end of the bottom wing ahead of the top. There are also spectacular depictions of life-threatening situations that Bendix Trophy competitors encounter, as well as a virtual primer on polo’s exciting aspects. However, Wells does tend to repeat information, such as Fernando’s backstory, and his prose is too often filled with superlatives: “Both of her greatest flying dreams were being fulfilled, and her joy and enthusiasm were boundless.” Still, aviation enthusiasts will appreciate the abundant aeronautical details.
An entertaining and informative work of historical fiction with a strong female protagonist.Pub Date: April 28, 2025
ISBN: 9798991258401
Page Count: 331
Publisher: Patagonia
Review Posted Online: June 6, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
That college love affair you never got over? Come wallow in this gorgeous version of it.
A love triangle among young literati has a long and complicated aftermath.
King’s narrator doesn’t reveal her name until the very last page, but Sam and Yash, the brainy stars of her 17th-century literature class, call her Jordan. Actually, at first they refer to her as Daisy, for Daisy Buchanan of The Great Gatsby, but when they learn she came to their unnamed college on a golf scholarship, they change it to Jordan for Gatsby’s golfer friend. The boys are housesitting for a professor who’s spending a year at Oxford, living in a cozy, book-filled Victorian Jordan visits for the first time after watching The Deer Hunter at the student union on her first date with Sam. As their relationship proceeds, Jordan is practically living at the house herself, trying hard not to notice that she’s actually in love with Yash. A Baptist, Sam has an everything-but policy about sex that only increases the tension. The title of the book refers to a nickname for the king of hearts from an obscure card game the three of them play called Sir Hincomb Funnibuster, and both the game and variations on the moniker recur as the novel spins through and past Jordan’s senior year, then decades into the future. King is a genius at writing love stories—including Euphoria (2014), which won the Kirkus Prize—and her mostly sunny version of the campus novel is an enjoyable alternative to the current vogue for dark academia. Tragedies are on the way, though, as we know they must be, since nothing gold can stay and these darn fictional characters seem to make the same kinds of stupid mistakes that real people do. Tenderhearted readers will soak the pages of the last chapter with tears.
That college love affair you never got over? Come wallow in this gorgeous version of it.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780802165176
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Grove
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
PERSPECTIVES
Soapy, suspenseful fun.
A remembered horror plunges a pregnant woman into a waking nightmare.
Tegan Werner, 23, barely recalls her one-night stand with married real estate developer Simon Lamar; she only learns Simon’s name after seeing him on the local news five months later. Simon wants nothing to do with the resulting child Tegan now carries and tells his lawyer to negotiate a nondisclosure agreement. A destitute Tegan is all too happy to trade her silence for cash—until a whiff of Simon’s cologne triggers a memory of him drugging and raping her. Distraught and eight months pregnant, Tegan flees her Lewiston, Maine, apartment and drives north in a blizzard, intending to seek comfort and counsel from her older brother, Dennis; instead, she gets lost and crashes, badly injuring her ankle. Tegan is terrified when hulking stranger Hank Thompson stops and extricates her from the wreck, and becomes even more so when he takes her to his cabin rather than the hospital, citing hazardous road conditions. Her anxiety eases somewhat upon meeting Hank’s wife, Polly—a former nurse who settles Tegan in a basement hospital room originally built for Polly’s now-deceased mother. Polly vows to call 911 as soon as the phones and power return, but when that doesn’t happen, Tegan becomes convinced that Hank is forcing Polly to hold her prisoner. Tegan doesn’t know the half of it. McFadden unspools her twisty tale via a first-person-present narration that alternates between Tegan and Polly, grounding character while elevating tension. Coincidence and frustratingly foolish assumptions fuel the plot, but readers able to suspend disbelief are in for a wild ride. A purposefully ambiguous, forward-flashing prologue hints at future homicide, establishing stakes from the jump.
Soapy, suspenseful fun.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781464227325
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
