This novel of a woman taking a second chance on life, love, and herself is a voice-y romantic comedy that stands out.
MARLOWE BANKS, REDESIGNED
by Jacqueline Firkins
St. Martin’s Griffin, September 2022
Marlowe Banks’ life has come apart at the seams. Her last costume design for an off-Broadway show was a disaster, and she’s realized that her fiancé may not be the right guy for her after all. So she gives him back the ring and leaves New York for Los Angeles and a job as a lowly Production Assistant on a popular TV show. She just wants to fade into the background, do the meaningless work thrown at her by her demanding boss, and not have any more prickly run-ins with the show’s bad boy, Angus Gordon. But then a costume mix-up requires Marlowe to step in as a waitress for some background work in a scene. It should be simple; all she has to do is pour coffee—but Marlowe’s wish to stay in the background doesn’t last long. When the episode airs, some of her and Angus’ real-life tension has come through on screen, and now, suddenly, everyone wants Angus’ character to date Marlowe’s waitress. Soon Marlowe is offered an arc on the show, but when she doesn’t know who she is anymore, how can she pretend to be someone else? As she spends more time with Angus and starts to get to know the man behind the grumpy persona, she sees the possibility for another life that she isn’t sure she’ll ever be ready for. And when her old life in New York comes calling, Marlowe will have to decide which version of herself she wants to be. Perfect for fans of Emily Henry and Evvie Drake Starts Over, MARLOWE BANKS, REDESIGNED is a story about a woman taking a second chance on life, love, and herself.
Jacqueline Firkins is a playwright, screenwriter, and comics artist who’s been creating worlds and characters as a set and costume designer for the past twenty years. She’s on the fulltime faculty at the University of British Columbia where she also takes any writing class they’ll let her into. When not writing, drawing, or sewing, she can be found running by the ocean, listening to earnest love songs, and pretending her dog understands every word she says.
Lulu Sanchez Pena and Cara Romera became friends soon after Cara’s son Fernando ran away. The mystery of why he ran away and the search to find him is central to their lives. When the two women are laid off from the factory where they work, the financial impacts are devastating; and when Cara unexpectedly dies and Fernando reappears, Lulu must question his intentions. Told from Lulu’s point of view, and with Cara’s voice coming through in a recorded transcript of a job interview, this is a novel that asks the reader not to accept the story as fact but to piece it together themselves. Much like gossip that vexes and catches a person in the way it spins and invents, Lulu and Cara spin tales about themselves assembling a memory of their lives and community. With its themes of immigration, aging, LGBTQ+ acceptance, and female friendship, this is a timely novel from a powerful literary voice.
Hannah Green is the last person you would envision as an Executive Protection Agent (aka “bodyguard”). Petite and non-descript, she is nevertheless an expert in her field who loves her job and the motley crew that make up her team. But when she is hired to protect Jack Stapleton, a Hollywood star with a tragic past who is coming home to Houston, she expects another spoiled, capricious player. Jack wants to keep her at arm’s length, which complicates her assignment. Hannah wants to keep him within arm’s length, which complicates her growing attraction to him. But each of them has secrets and heartbreak in their past that might prevent them from ever finding true love—even more than the different worlds they come from. With stalkers closing in, Jack and Hannah must each find a way to take chances…because every chance you take might bring you into harm’s way, but also might make you a little bit braver.
In this lush, lyrical debut, Teresa Cepeda is staring down old age alone, estranged from her eldest daughter, Lyra. With her husband missing and her youngest dead, Teresa’s only companion is the petulant ghost of her mother, Amarga. But when an aberrant hurricane makes landfall in San Jose’s Valley, an unexpected visitor—the grandson she love but was never permitted to meet—arrives on her doorstep. Thirty years ago, when Teresa’s husband murdered Amarga and burned the American Fruit Corporation to the ground, Teresa was forced to flee Costa Rica. Now that her grandson is asking questions, will the Cepedas learn why their patriarch committed these shocking acts of violence? Will Lyra finally forgive Teresa for abandoning her and her late sister when they were children? As the hurricane wreaks havoc, the Cepedas will need to reconcile soon—if at all. Brimming with ancestral spirits, omens, and the anthropomorphic forces of nature, Where There Was Fire weaves a brilliant tapestry of love, loss, secrets, and redemption. John Manuel Arias chronicles the rich history of Costa Rica from the civil war in 1948 through the mid-1990s and shows how the lives of one family are intertwined with the tides of history and international politics.
In a dangerous post-grad world of magic, a society of chosen magicians study the secrets of the lost library of Alexandria whose books can unlock a life of wealth, power, and prestige beyond their wildest dreams. Each decade, only the six most uniquely talented magicians in the world are selected to compete for initiation. This year, the competition is fiercer than ever before.