Ever since age six, when Imogen’s mother (who can predict the future) tells her she’ll never be first in anything, she has set out to prove her wrong and break the curse. In childhood, it was everything from sports contests to academic pursuits, and from art school onward, it was trying to find a man who wouldn’t eventually leave her for someone better. However, overshadowing it all, is her lifelong friend and high school crush Eliot who took their mutual best friend Franny to the prom and then left town permanently after graduation, eventually ghosting her despite his promise to keep in touch and leaving her heartbroken.
Just after her 17th boyfriend tells her he’s leaving her for his co-worker, Imogen’s mother has a premonition and Eliot’s father dies. In the ten years he’s been gone, quiet, sweet, kind but tortured Eliot has wandered the globe, amassed four million followers on his YouTube channel, and kept his vow to never return to the home where he was raised and neglected by his cold parents. When he’s called back for the funeral, he isn’t just confronting his mother and the pain of his childhood, he’s also having to come clean with Imogen. Once he share his fears with her, he commits to helping her win at something, knowing that this curse has held her back from living her fullest life and following her dreams. In the process of competing in everything from corn-shucking to cupcake baking contests, is there a chance that Eliot will decide to stop running away and, instead, run towards life with Imogen?
Although this has all the elements of a second-chance, friends-to-lovers, small town romance, it fits more in the women’s lit genre with complex family situations, an enduring friendship between three friends that isn’t the love triangle it appears to be at first glance, a small town citizenry that is predictably all up in Imogen’s business, and two lovely, kind people who are great at helping each other face hard truths but whose baggage might keep them from ever forgiving themselves and the people who wronged them so that they can be together. Firkin keeps readers in suspense up until the final moments. Fans of Kristan Higgins, Katherine Center and Abby Jimenez will want to check this one out.
I received a complimentary ARC of this book from St. Martin’s Griffin through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.
Just after her 17th boyfriend tells her he’s leaving her for his co-worker, Imogen’s mother has a premonition and Eliot’s father dies. In the ten years he’s been gone, quiet, sweet, kind but tortured Eliot has wandered the globe, amassed four million followers on his YouTube channel, and kept his vow to never return to the home where he was raised and neglected by his cold parents. When he’s called back for the funeral, he isn’t just confronting his mother and the pain of his childhood, he’s also having to come clean with Imogen. Once he share his fears with her, he commits to helping her win at something, knowing that this curse has held her back from living her fullest life and following her dreams. In the process of competing in everything from corn-shucking to cupcake baking contests, is there a chance that Eliot will decide to stop running away and, instead, run towards life with Imogen?
Although this has all the elements of a second-chance, friends-to-lovers, small town romance, it fits more in the women’s lit genre with complex family situations, an enduring friendship between three friends that isn’t the love triangle it appears to be at first glance, a small town citizenry that is predictably all up in Imogen’s business, and two lovely, kind people who are great at helping each other face hard truths but whose baggage might keep them from ever forgiving themselves and the people who wronged them so that they can be together. Firkin keeps readers in suspense up until the final moments. Fans of Kristan Higgins, Katherine Center and Abby Jimenez will want to check this one out.
I received a complimentary ARC of this book from St. Martin’s Griffin through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.
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