New popular fiction — who invited this kid into my life?

, The TimesWell, This Is Awkward by Esther Walker Illustration of book cover for "Well, this is awkward" by Esther Walker.

Mairéad has constructed her perfect London life — successful, single and child-free. She’s still nominally in charge of her influencer marketing company even though it was bought up by American investors, and the younger employees’ backhanded compliments seem to be getting sharper. And yes, the 40-plus dating scene is less than stellar. And her bohemian mother is more interested in her lodgers than in her own children. But things are generally great. Until her militant, off-grid sister, Lenny, whom Mairéad hasn’t seen for years, ends up in hospital after a mysterious accident, and Mairéad has to provide a temporary home for her 11-year-old niece, Sunshine. The child definitely doesn’t live up to her name — she’s filthy, sullen, blunt to the point of rudeness, and mainly interested in pacing in circles and ignoring everyone while she reads voraciously. The journalist and podcaster Esther Walker delights in her odd-couple pairing and the upheaval Sunny brings to Mairéad’s life, in practical and emotional terms. Is it annoying that the message seems to be that your life is not fulfilled if you don’t have a child? Frankly, yes, and there is rather too much serendipity at play. But Walker offers smart, peppy humour and good comic characters who power her tale along with brio.
Bedford Square £16.99 pp323
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Say You’ll Be There by Nina Millns Illustration of book cover for Nina Millns's *Say You'll Be There*, featuring four women's profiles.

There’s a lot going on in Nina Millns’s second novel — and much of it is quite grim. Tess, Candace, Arianna and Dana bond at school after they all turn up for Red Nose Day as Scary Spice. An unlikely quartet, they sustain each other through everything that adolescence in late-1990s London throws at them: broken families, awful boyfriends, a sexually abusive teacher, substance abuse, homelessness, rape … the list is long. Meanwhile, a parallel timeline is running: it’s 2022 and the friendships have frayed, but Candace reconnects with Tess and Arianna to tell them that wayward Dana has gone missing. Their search for her opens old wounds and brings chaos back into their lives — but it brings some catharsis for these battered survivors. The time frame jumps can be a bit confusing — as can some startlingly anachronistic cultural references — and the denouement is a burst of pure melodrama. But Millns draws strong female characters and writes punchily engaging dialogue, and conveys the grit and snatched joys of the girls’ turbulent teenage years with real affection.
Simon & Schuster £9.99 pp528
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• What we’re reading this week — by the Times books team

It Might Never Happen by Emily Slapper Book cover illustration for "It Might Never Happen" by Emily Slapper.

There’s more teenage angst in Emily Slapper’s second novel, courtesy of Noa and Elliot and their tortuous attempts to find love. We meet them aged 25: Elliot’s life has always been dominated by caring for his severely autistic elder brother — so much so that he has never shaped an identity of his own and is consumed with anxiety. Noa, meanwhile, is desperate to be loved, which leads her from one appalling boyfriend to another. Elliot, we learn, was her first real love, aged 14, when they were at school in Stoke — when they meet again by chance and are drawn back together, two whirling mental health crises collide. Can they save each other? The narrative flips between teenage and adult Noa and Elliot, the detail of their unsparing inner monologues (which can be pretty funny) punctuated by bracketed, all-knowing authorial interjections (which can be annoying). It’s strangely compelling — you’re plunged so deep into this pair’s forensically examined trials and tribulations, you can’t help but want to know if they make it.
HQ £16.99 pp337
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Slow Burn by Oti Mabuse Illustration of a book cover for Oti Mabuse's *Slow Burn*, featuring an illustration of a couple dancing.

Strictly Come Dancing lurches into life again next Saturday, so what better time for a dance-themed romance by the former Strictly star Oti Mabuse? Slow Burn, written with Lorraine Brown, follows Lira, a former Latin ballroom champion, and her Cinderella transformation from put-upon daughter running her parents’ suburban dance studio to star of a big new show that has a West End run and a European tour. And — surprise! — the male lead is Gabriele, a smouldering Italian with whom she had a night of shenanigans 13 years previously that she hasn’t been able to forget. Somehow, Lira goes from teaching pensioners, toddlers and wedding couples to being fit enough to carry a West End show in three weeks with not even a tweaked muscle — such is the magic of the romance novel. And she does spend a lot of time worrying about dance studio admin. But when Mabuse, a former Latin dance champion, gets into the tempestuous passions of dancing salsa, rumba and, above all, Argentine tango with a hot partner there’s fun to be had.
Simon & Schuster £20 pp364
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