THE HOOKUP PLAN
Rochon, Farrah Forever (400 pp.) $15.99 paper | Aug. 2, 2022 978-1-538-71668-7
y o u n g a d u lt
High school rivals reconnect at their 15-year reunion. London Kelley is in the last few months of her residency in pediatric surgery in her hometown of Austin, Texas. She loves her work and has her pick of jobs anywhere in the country, but her strong personal ties to friends and family make it hard to imagine moving. Her two best friends, Samiah and Taylor, encourage her to find a hookup partner to relieve some stress, but London is too busy for dating. At her high school reunion, she runs into her nemesis, Drew Sullivan, the boy she competed with for valedictorian in her senior year. They fall right back into their old pattern of exchanging banter and barbs, but things take a turn, and the two end up in bed. Drew has just retired from a hedge fund as a multimillionaire, but he’s founded a new firm that audits hospitals and health care providers. When London discovers that Drew will be auditing her hospital, they agree to extend their “just one night” arrangement into a monthlong hookup. London is surprised to find her animosity for Drew evolving into affection and love. Although the novel is full of interesting side characters and real-life problems, it is Rochon’s masterful exploration of internal conflict that makes this such a winning romance. London and Drew are successful professionals who still have to manage difficult personal relationships. London is learning to stop seeking her father’s approval, while Drew has to forgive himself for prioritizing work over family obligations. This is a perfect example of how personal growth fuels the fire of the rivals-to-lovers trope. A terrific ending to a series that highlights how strong career women juggle work and relationships in the modern world.
Soleil Bijoux Garcia and then see them renew their bond. Ivan has always been self-contained. His in-utero exposure to a drug, followed by a childhood with his troubled single mother, has affected him emotionally as well as cognitively. Though eventually embraced by the powerful Russian Mercant family, despite not having a biological connection to them, he is convinced that the drug’s effects will eventually make him a danger to everyone. A chance meeting with a playful healer briefly gives him hope, but losing her seems part of his inevitable solitary existence. Even when he finds her again, she doesn’t seem to recognize him. Orphaned young when her shifter-human parents died in an accident, French Latinx ocelot Lei is now reeling from the recent massacre of her shifter pack. But her shifter half is drawn to an intense stranger in the midst of a Psy crisis. Once Lei realizes the love they could have, Ivan must contend with her determination that they stay together and his own protective instincts. While an amnesia plot may not be for everyone, the novel deftly balances Ivan’s grief with sweet flashbacks to the couple’s initial dates and then ramps up the electric attraction between them in the present. The author’s signature warm scenes involving new changelings and the changeling families familiar to regular series readers reinforce a tone of communal love and support. While the external threat mounts and Ivan and Lei work with Psy and changeling leaders to combat it, the sexual chemistry between the couple reaches a joyful culmination. Some readers, however, may grumble at how late in the book the scene occurs. An engaging paranormal romance in which love triumphs over isolation.
STORM ECHO
Singh, Nalini Berkley (384 pp.) $27.00 | July 26, 2022 978-0-593-44067-4 A Psy and a cat shifter separated by trauma and amnesia reunite and take on an unknown enemy. The Psy-Changeling series continues with a new pair of lovers whose personal connection might strengthen the links among the human, Psy, and shifter groups just as the Psynet is under attack. In sections that alternate between the recent past and present and between the points of view of the two protagonists and a mysterious villain, we learn about the abruptly ended budding romance of Psy Ivan Mercant and ocelot-shifter |
kirkus.com
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romance
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1 july 2022
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41
