A romantic comedy that’s both cozy and empowering.
After years of hiding her shine, a woman adjusts to life in the spotlight when she’s a guest on a plus-size makeover show.
Everly Winters would rather blend in than stand out—after all, she spent years listening to her overly critical mother tell her she was too loud, too bold, and too much. It’s easier to hide and live life on the sidelines, preferably while wearing neutrals. But then she gets nominated to be a contestant on On the Plus Side, a Queer Eye–type makeover show that only showcases plus-size people. Instead of trying to hide their bodies, the contestants are encouraged to believe in themselves and their inherent fabulousness. Everly is wary of being in the spotlight, but she loves hosts Jazzy Germaine and Stanton Bakshi too much to say no. But this means she has to not only face her fears but do so on camera. Everly can barely admit to herself that she wants more out of life than her role as a receptionist at a marketing firm—she wants to work in the design department. Most important, she misses the woman she used to be before she took her mother’s words to heart and started dressing to blend in. The show’s producer also nudges her to admit her feelings for her Chris Hemsworth–doppelgänger coworker, James—someone Everly assumes would never be into her. Everly expects it to feel difficult as she breaks out of her comfort zone, but one thing she doesn’t expect is to develop a crush on Logan, the cameraman who follows her everywhere. He’s gruff and seems to dress exclusively in flannel, but the more she gets to know him, the more she sees that underneath his grouchy exterior is a deeply kind (and kind of sexy) interior. Everly is a relatable character, and her bravery and persistence in chasing the life she wants creates a satisfying arc. Howe balances Everly’s insecurities with her newfound belief in herself—while her mother may shame her, the novel never does, and Everly is presented as beautiful, capable, and the star of her own story.
A romantic comedy that’s both cozy and empowering.Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250837882
Page Count: 368
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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