 Sarah Ward’s The Crossover is a delightful, sports-centered romance focused on two very different college athletes whose different approaches to life and love bring them together.
Stella is a driven perfectionist whose last relationship has led her to vow to avoid romance and double down on her commitments. She’s an equestrian who wants her future to center on the sport, despite her mother’s skepticism that she can support herself at all. Owen’s approach to everything—love, sports, academics—is decidedly more casual. As a new transfer to Mountain Ridge University, Owen is joining the basketball team at a disadvantage. But he’s not worried (about anything). When they first meet, at the gym, Owen is immediately drawn to Stella, and Stella is . . . not interested. At least that’s what she tells herself. But as she gets to know Owen, she starts to see that there may be more depth than either of them had believed. In her second novel, after her great middle-grade read Victory Gallop, Ward’s first foray into romance is compelling and heart warming and so much fun. Stella and Owen both have strong backstories that fuel them, and each is fighting their way out of the limitations their parents have placed upon them. The Crossover is a delightful book that cements Ward as an auto-read author for me!
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 Thanks to partners NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the digital ARC of Emma Lord’s The Break-Up Pact. The book will be published tomorrow.
You can’t go wrong with a book by Emma Lord. Her five YA novels have made her an auto-read author, so when I saw she was expanding into adult romance, I was thrilled! Her new book The Break-Up Pact, which features , friends to lovers, second-chance romance (of a sort), AND fake dating does right by its tropes and confirmed my commitment to reading everything she writes. June and Levi were—along with June’s sister Annie—inseparable as kids and clear through high school. And then, as Levi and Annie, and then June, went to college, they drifted apart. June started dating Griffin, joining him on global adventures—and, by extension, on his quest for fame. She thought they were happy . . . until he returned from a solo trip with someone new, breaking up with June on a reality tv show and making her (the Crying Girl) a viral sensation. Levi has achieved fame of his own, and his fiancee left him for an action movie star, meaning that Levi, too, has become a viral object of pity. Levi returns to town, finding June running Tea Tides, the tea shop that she and Annie had always dreamed of opening. Now, in the wake of Annie’s death, June is struggling on all fronts, failing to make the business a success, losing the love that she thought she had, and finding herself unsure how to deal with the unresolved feelings she still has for Levi. June and Levi wallow in misery for a while, and then June’s best friend Sana has an idea: they can each emerge with a little more dignity, a chance for Tea Tides, and some envy-inspired romance for Levi if they just pretend to revenge date for a while. And so the Break-Up Pact is born. Lord has such a fantastic touch with characters that I fell in love with June and Levi and all of their family and friends right away. The Break-Up Pact is steamier than Lord’s YA books for sure, but it captures the same giddy sense of new relationships and possibilities while balancing the wistful longing for the days when June and Levi were best friends and Annie was still alive. I so appreciate the way the novel peels back the layers of each character’s recovery and of the rebuilding of their multifaceted relationships. It’s a lovely read, a moving portrait of compassion and friendship, grief and love, and it’s about characters figuring out who they are and how being with the right person can help them build stronger individual identities.  Thanks to partners NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the digital ARC of Amanda Quain’s Dashed. The book will be published on July 16!
I have great, great affection for Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, and I thoroughly enjoyed Amanda Quain’s Ghosted, a retelling of Northanger Abbey. That made Dashed, Quain’s retelling/modern continuation of Sense and Sensibility an easy pick for my TBR. Dashed focuses on Margaret Dashwood, the youngest sister in her family. In Austen’s book, she’s a sort of afterthought to Elinor and Marianne (the “sense” and “sensibility” of the title); here, she’s the center. During her childhood, she was more like Marianne—she was impulsive and extroverted and emotional. After Marianne’s yearning for a man she couldn’t have ended in tragedy for Marianne and Margaret, she vowed to be more like Elinor: controlled and independent and organized. That meant putting mental space between her and Marianne. Now, Margaret has graduated from high school and has planned to spend her summer on a cruise ship with Elinor and Elinor’s husband Edward, the chaplain on the ship. Her plans change rapidly when Marianne shows up, boards with the family, and drops the news that Brandon broke up with her. And she’s spending the summer with Elinor and Margaret. Immediately, Margaret panics, convinced that she’s going to fall back into a Marianne pattern . . . unless Margaret can find a new match for Marianne who will distract her and keep her on an even keel. (After all, she thinks, it’s only romantic attachments that anchor Marianne.) In the meantime, Marianne has her own plans for Margaret, who has never succumbed to love after seeing the turmoil it wrought with her sister. Marianne will go along with Margaret’s plans IF Margaret goes on some blind dates of her own. Fortunately, Margaret made a quick—friends-only, she says—connection with Gabe, who runs the soundboard for the ship’s entertainment. He’ll be the perfect, decoy blind date. She just has to convince herself that friendship is all she feels. Dashed is a fun update/retelling that makes full use of Austen’s beautifully developed characters in a modern setting. While I did feel that the polarity of Elinor and Marianne was a bit much—Margaret continually told herself she had to choose between these two models, and I felt she was just too smart to fall into the sort of dichotomy that steers much of the plot—and Margaret’s denial of her feelings for Gabe cycled a bit too long, I still thoroughly enjoyed the time devoted to the youngest member of the Dashwood family. I appreciated the ways that she explored the ways that Margaret would have experienced the love stories of Elinor and Edward, of Marianne and Brandon, and the ways that might have affected a young, impressionable sister. I did feel, however, that it took too long for the book to lean into the complexities that lie beneath the easy characterizations that Austen ultimately resists. There’s great humor in Margaret’s reality show-style attempts to find a match for Marianne, and I loved seeing Elinor and Edward years into a sweet, stable marriage. Gabe is also a fantastic romantic interest, and his years on the cruise ship lead him to be a wonderful tour guide for Margaret. The various stops make for a wonderful setting. Overall, I recommend Dashed to Austen fans and to YA romance readers, and I look forward to reading the next installment in Quain’s series of modern Austen retellings.  Thanks to partners NetGalley and Berkley for the digital ARC of Ali Brady’s Until Next Summer. The book will be published on July 9!
Ali Brady’s newest book, Until Next Summer, shows that this writing duo just keeps getting better. Their previous novels The Beach Trap and The Comeback Summer had already made them auto-read authors for me, and Until Next Summer just reinforced their place on that list. Jessie is the eternal camp kid—Camp Chickawah was her place of solace in a childhood torn between two divorced parents and their new families, and it’s still the center of her life and career as head camp director. That’s why she’s never understood why her former camp best friend, Hillary, didn’t step into a role as camp counselor back when they were teenagers. The moment she made that decision was when their friendship ended. Now, Hillary has an incredibly successful career in the city and an impressive and parent-approved—if passionless—relationship. But she’s never forgotten the joy and freedom that she found at Camp Chickawah and with Jessie. She doesn’t think, however, that she’ll ever make her way back there. Then, an opportunity arises. The children of Camp Chickawah’s former owners have decided to sell the camp to a developer who’s going to tear it down. For the last summer before it’s destroyed, Jessie sets up a series of “adult” camps, designed for all of the kids-turned-adults who need Camp Chickawah in their lives again. And Hillary is one of them, running the arts and crafts program. This fun premise sets up a fun, moving, fabulous novel that includes romance and friendship, characters finding themselves and each other, all the joy and nostalgia of summer camp, and even a sweet dog. Alternating between Jessie’s and Hillary’s point of view, the authors manage to share the desolation of a friendship lost and the hope that it can be rekindled. Yes, this is a steamy romance—and I loved watching both characters find their perfect matches—but I think the book’s centering of friendship is my favorite part.  Thanks to partners NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the digital ARC of Eloisa James's Viscount in Love. The book will be published on July 23!
I jumped on the chance to read Viscount in Love, drawn in by my previous experiences reading Eloisa James’s fun, feminist spins on regency romance. Viscount in Love fits right in. Torie Sutton is a bit of an outcast from her society—she’s never fit in the way her sister, Leonora does. Leonora is devoted to meeting others’ expectations, to following the rules and making a good match. And she’s succeeded in all of the above, nailing down an engagement with Viscount Dominic Kelbourne. Leonora, by contrast, doesn’t care much about fitting in and has had to accept others’ low opinions of her, driven—at least in part—by her inability to read. (It becomes clear early on that she has a reading disability, though this is of course before those were diagnosed.) When Dominic Kelbourne’s sister and her husband are killed, he’s left with their twins who are rebels and outcasts in their own right. And Leonora is having none of it. So, left without a partner, Dominic moves on to finding a caretaker instead—and Torie is the perfect candidate. Torie, though she deeply loves the twins, wants to be more than a nanny, and her resistance and Dominic’s persistence make for a fantastically fun historical romance.  Thanks to partners NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the digital ARC of Maggie North's Rules for Second Chances. The book will be published on June 25!
Maggie North’s Rules for Second Chances is a truly lovely second-chance romance, one that tackles its characters’ need to know who they are both in a relationship and as individuals. The novel is thoughtful and thought-provoking, funny and tender. What a wonderful debut. Liz Lewis knows that her husband, Tobin, is magic. He’s magic at West by North, the adventure company where he works as a head guide . . . and Liz does spreadsheets. He’s magic with his mother, who dotes on his every move . . . and tolerates Liz. He’s magic at every part they attend, where he is the star . . . and Liz feels like either a barnacle attached to him or a wallflower hoping to fade into the background. Unfortunately, their three-year marriage is not magic. Yes, the physical part of their relationship works as well as it ever did, but now the rest of their marriage is plagued by secrets and a long list of topics they avoid. Tobin is the ever-popular yes man, leaving Liz to always be the one saying “no” or staying—resentfully—silent. Liz can’t take it anymore, and so, on her 30th birthday, she walks away from their marriage, vowing to “GET MAGIC.” She wants to find happiness, and herself, to climb out of her spreadsheets, earn a promotion, and find someone who can balance her. But Tobin isn’t ready to let go. Just as Liz is dipping a toe into improv, after her boss tells her that’s the way to start earning her promotion, to gain confidence and sparkle, Tobin convinces her to try a relationship-counseling-via-improv book written by his best friend (who also happens to be Liz’s improv teacher). What ensues is Liz’s fight to find herself, to figure out who she is and who she can be in her marriage with Tobin and her career and her complicated relationship with her sister. Rules for Second Chances is a book that embraces the complexity of relationships and of identity. There are characters here to cheer for and to despise, situations that feel so real and so painful that the characters’ vulnerability shines off the page. I absolutely loved watching Liz’s journey, and I’m eager to see what Maggie North publishes next.  Thanks to partners NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the digital ARC of Katherine Center's The Rom-Commers. The book will be published on Tuesday!
Reading Katherine Center’s newest book has become a favorite summer tradition for me. Her books center on such believably real characters in such lovely, dreamy, and sincerely funny circumstances. The Rom-Commers checked all of those boxes for me. Emma Wheeler’s life is dominated by two things: (1) caring for her family, particularly her father, after a tragic accident that changed their lives forever, and (2) screenwriting. Well, screenwriting rom-coms. Emma has made choices that have affected her career and her freedom to make sure that her younger sister has every option she could dream of as she emerges from college and to keep her father safe, which means 24-7 care. So, when she’s unexpectedly given a chance to ghost write (and overhaul) a rom-com screenplay by her idol, Charlie Yates, she’s both exhilarated and reluctant: her sister has an internship opportunity that Emma doesn’t want her to pass up, and she can’t leave her dad. This situation, right from the beginning, is communicated with such vividness that I felt every facet of Emma’s agonizing choice: follow the dream that she’s pushed down for so long or keep to the narrow path that she’s carved out for herself. It takes a push from her family—and her high school ex-boyfriend, Logan, now a successful Hollywood agent—to get Emma on the plane to meet and work with Charlie Yates. And then she finds out that (despite what Logan told her!) Charlie doesn’t want a ghost writer and doesn’t even know that she’s coming. This premise spins out in satisfying ways. Of course, Emma ends up co-writing with Charlie, schooling him on the merits of the rom-coms that he so scorns and giving him a very honest take on the problems she sees with his draft. Their working relationship has ups and downs, misunderstandings and miscommunications both deliberate and not, and the ways that their romantic relationships develop in parallel to their screenplay are delightful. But it’s the characters that are the standout here, the ways that Emma and Charlie (and Emma’s dad and sister) force themselves to work toward happiness again and again, work toward believing in and living with love. I always appreciate reading Center’s acknowledgments, where she shares the inspirations for each story and the books and research that informed her novels. Her dedication to and advocacy for romance is a beautiful thing, and it’s borne out, again and again, in her books. The Rom-Commers is a beautiful tribute to rom-coms and to writing and to movies, and it’s a wonderful novel about the ways we have to believe in and put effort into pursuing love. It’s a book that will satisfy Center’s readers, old and new.  Thanks to partners NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the digital ARC of Molly Morris's Annie LeBlanc Is Not Dead Yet. The book will be published tomorrow!
I knew from the first page that I was going to love Molly Morris’s Annie LeBlanc Is Not Dead Yet. It’s quirky and original and just totally captivating. Here’s the premise: Wilson Moss is a high school senior, and she’s completely alone. She’s been alone since both of her best friends abandoned her, just as they were moving into their junior years. Ryan cut her off completely (though they—awkwardly—still work together at Ryan’s mom’s restaurant). Wilson’s mom left Wil’s long-time stepfather, the adult who provided the most stability in her and her younger half-sister’s life. Her friend Annie? She not only transferred to the local private school but also ended their friendship. And then, she died. Wil’s not exactly sure what happened, though she has some ideas. So, she takes a chance on her town’s unique contest, a once-every-decade anomaly. Any resident of Lennon can throw their name in the hat for a chance to bring back someone dead . . . for 30 days. Shockingly, Wil wins the contest, which means she has 30 days to (temporarily) resurrect her friendship and to figure out just what makes her so unlovable. The whole situation is complicated. Ryan had begun making small forays into friendship again, but Wil’s choice makes Ryan beyond angry since the first fissures in their friendship began with Annie and Ryan. And Wil isn’t content with 30 days, so when she picks up on a loophole from Ruth Fish (the seemingly immortal being who’s in charge of the town, and the contest) Wilson vows to mend the trio’s friendship and—hopefully—make this a real chance at life again for Annie, and a real chance at friendship again for her. This book has so many layers. I love the magical realism, the strangeness of the contest and the matter-of-fact way that everyone in the town accepts it. The world building is just fantastic. I love the complexity of Wilson’s character, the way she’s so valiantly trying to gain some control over the areas of her life that she lost, searching for love and friendship and family. The secondary characters here are incredibly vivid, too, and I could feel the ways that they’re struggling for so many of the same things that Wilson is hoping for, each existing as fully realized people in the same way that Wil is. After finishing Annie LeBlanc Is Not Dead Yet, I found out that Morris has one previous YA novel—I’ll be picking it up soon. Do yourself a favor, and put this one on your TBR.  Thanks to partners NetGalley and Graydon House Books for the ARC of A. H. Kim’s Relative Strangers. The book will be out tomorrow!
A. H. Kim’s Relative Strangers is a modern retelling of Sense and Sensibility with some big—fun—twists. The focus in this version is on the Marianne character, Amelia Bae-Wood. She’s the unreliable sister, the one who hasn’t seen her family in ages and has to hitchhike back to her childhood home, just as her mother is being evicted from it. The villain? Their father’s illegitimate son, Chong Bae, who is vying to claim his inheritance in an effort that has embroiled them in a lengthy, painful court case. Amelia arrives only to find that her sister, Eleanor, has already moved their mother to a small home at the cancer center where she volunteers. Amelia is still working through her own—secret—trauma and now has to face the resentment of her sister, who is convinced that Amelia’s lack of responsibility is a sign of her selfishness and her inability to be a stable part of her family. The conflicts here abound. First, there’s the class conflict that is part of Austen’s original novel, fueled by one of Amelia’s past relationships, which put her in the media spotlight, and by a potential love match with a new wealthy suitor. Issues in response to Amelia and Eleanor’s heritage also arise: the sisters are half-Korean (their mother is a white Southern belle, and their father immigrated from Seoul). Much of the novel is about recovering from loss: there’s the death of Amelia’s father, which—along with the loss of her home—has left their mother desolate. They’re also still dealing with the shadow of the death of Eleanor’s first husband, a loss that continues to haunt Eleanor and her daughter Maggie. Of course, there’s plenty of romance, though the center of the novel, for me, is the sibling relationship between Amelia and Eleanor, whose approaches to the world vary greatly. Eleanor feels as if she has to keep a firm grasp on everything, fearful that a loss of control will result in chaos. Amelia, in contrast, has to bring herself back from a tendency to embrace the very chaos that her sister so fears. Despite their tensions, there’s a lovely connection between them, along with some fun touches (they often communicate in movie quotes that are perfect for any situation). And watching Amelia strive to figure out who she wants to be and how she wants to share her story and her hidden struggles is a satisfying journey. I loved seeing both the ways that Kim chose to pay tribute to her source material and the places she chose to break away, to put a new spin on the classic tale. Relative Strangers is the best kind of retelling, one that relies on the strong center of the original but shows the ways that its tale is still all too relevant.  Thanks to partner NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the digital ARC of Ashley Schumacher’s In the Orbit of You. The book will be published tomorrow!
Ashley Schumacher excels at writing books that tug at my heartstrings, that make me ugly cry. Starting with Amelia Unabridged, which had me full-out sobbing, Schumacher’s YA novels his emotional beats that are authentic and rooted in well-developed, deeply felt characters. Her newest novel, In the Orbit of You, starts with a childhood friendship between Nova Evans and Sam Jordan. They were neighbors, and best friends, reigning over Snailopolis, an imaginary world that served as an escape from ugliness and abuse. Their friendship brings both of them comfort, until Sam is removed from his home, but they promise solemnly to find each other again, when they’re grown up, when they’re 18. Flash forward. Nova is . . . well, she’s 17, and it’s her first day at the umpteenth new school she has entered as she follows her mother’s career from one location to the next. This time, Nova promises herself that she won’t fall into whatever persona seems to make things easiest. Instead, she’s going to figure out who she really is, the identity that fits her best. And then she sees Sam. Nova recognizes him almost right away. He . . . doesn’t recognize her. He’s got a girlfriend, a best friend, amazing parents, a promising future as a football star. But he’s not happy, and Nova quickly sees that unhappiness. And then Sam recognizes her. From there, the book enters a cycle: the promise of reunion, of friendship, and of a new attraction exerts a powerful pull. But Sam has an established life, and Nova knows that they’re moving in just two months, so throwing caution to the wind and entering a state of upheaval and chaos on the off chance that they have something real just doesn’t seem worth it. Or does it? As with all of Schumacher’s books, In the Orbit of You shows a deep understanding of its characters, and I truly loved both Nova and Sam. I did get a little weary of the cyclical nature of their surrender to their feelings and the subsequent denial of them, but the story is still a powerful one, and Schumacher is still an auto-read author for me. |
AuthorI'm Jen Moyers, co-host of the Unabridged Podcast and an English teacher. Archives
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