Heartstrings #1
ARC provided by PRH International
Author: B. K. Borrison
@prhinternational and #PRHInternationalPartner
In this “Sleepless in Seattle”-inspired story, 12-year-old Maya decides to call the “Heartrings” radio show to ask advice on how to help her mother. She thinks her mom is unhappy and deserves to find love. Lucie catches her on the phone and ends up blurting to the host all she’s really feeling when it comes to her love life.
Aiden Valentine might be the host of Baltimore’s romance hotline but he himself doesn’t want to have anything to do with love. For some unexplainable reason (to him), he and Lucie hit it off during the call (that goes viral) and Lucie is invited for a new segment – they’ll find her a deserving love interest. She wants magic. She never thought she’d find that in Aiden.
I love B. K. Boris and her small town stories and I loved seeing this one was set in Baltimore for a change. The secondary characters are a delight: Lucie’s ex and his husband, Maya, Lucie’s best friend, the “weather man” Jackson… they all make this a well rounded and fun story.
Lucie in an unconventional heroine. She’s still best friends with her kid’s dad, she’s a mechanic. She is also a dedicated mom who truly deserves some magic in her life.
Aiden is a little broken. We soon find out why he’s so afraid of falling in love and you root for him to let his guard down because he’s the definition of “boy obsessed”.
Although I truly loved the story, it dragged a bit with the “Aiden is afraid to love” issue and the book could have been shorter.
It has all the swoony moments you’d expect in a story based on one of Nora Ephron’s , though.
Representation: queer secondary chracaters
Content notes: off page, historical : teenage pregnancy, child abandonment, cancer diagnosis and treatment
