A Forty Year Kiss
A Novel
by Nickolas Butler
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Pub Date Feb 04 2025 | Archive Date Feb 15 2025
Sourcebooks | Sourcebooks Landmark
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Description
From the critically acclaimed author of Shotgun Lovesongs comes an exquisitely written, small-town story about one couple's hard-won second chance at love, forty years after their divorce.
Charlie and Vivian parted ways after just four years of marriage. Too many problems, too many struggles, even though the love didn't quite die. When Charlie returns to Wisconsin forty years later, he's not sure what he'll find. He is sure of one thing — he must try to reconnect with Vivian to pick up the broken pieces of their past. But forty years is a long time. It's forty years of other relationships, forty years of building new lives, and forty years of long-held regrets, mistakes, and painful secrets.
A brave and triumphant exploration of redemption and sunset triumph, A Forty Year Kiss is a once-in-a-lifetime love story, written with dazzling lyricism and remarkable clarity of spirit, from a celebrated author at the top of his game. It's a literary valentine that promises to be a love story for the ages.
Advance Praise
“Life-affirming and straight-up beautiful. Will stoke the good fire in your chest. I absolutely loved it. A must-read.” —Matthew Quick, New York Times bestselling author of The Silver Linings Playbook
“A big-hearted, comforting novel about second chances—at love, at recovery, at forgiveness and redemption. Butler treats all his characters with dignity and affection. When we die, we’d all be lucky to come back as a character in a Nickolas Butler novel.” —Ash Davidson, author of Damnation Spring
“Nick Butler only writes good books, but this is the one that sticks most tightly in my brain and heart... It’s a book for the midnight optimist that is waiting inside us all.” —Leif Enger, bestselling author of I Cheerfully Refuse
“Nick Butler is at the top of his game with A Forty-Year Kiss. The characters are so real, I feel like they are family. The story is absolute perfection and a romance for the ages. From the first sentences, the reader is placed right into the pages, and I didn’t want it to end. I have been waiting a long time to read a book like this, and Nick’s writing will forever live in my heart.” —Mary O’Malley, Skylark Bookshop
“Nickolas Butler sets the page on fire in A Forty-Year Kiss. This is not an out-of-control wildfire of a love story—it is, instead, the slow burn of mature people who know love. A Forty-Year Kiss understands the peaks and dives of a lifelong romance and illuminates them gloriously on the page. Charlie and Vivian are complex, fallible, and very real. Let yourself fall head over heels for the new novel by this remarkable author.” —Pamela Klinger-Horn, Valley Bookseller
“An unforgettable love story that transcends time. Nickolas Butler has crafted a stunning portrayal of new beginnings that is raw, honest, and deeply moving. A Forty-Year Kiss inspires hope and proves that it is never too late for a second chance at love. I couldn’t put it down!” —Maxwell Gregory, Madison Street Books
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781464221248 |
| PRICE | $27.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 352 |
Links
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Reviewer 1087751
A FORTY YEAR KISS had me instantly hooked and completely immersed in it. A beautiful and emotional love story filled with so much more... forgiveness, growth, and healing. I deeply loved the romance -how it still felt so truthful and grounded - and how a couple relearns and discovers new layers of one another.
Charlie and Vivian were in love and married forty years ago. Charlie is back in area and wants to be with Vivian again. Vivian has spent her life taking care of her kids and grandkids... and is leery of jumping back into something with Charlie, and doesn't want to spend time from her family if Charlie is just going to break her heart again? After all history repeats itself, right?
I admired how real the characters are with their emotional depth, and especially with their complicated history, how Charlie and Vivian challenge each other to change and heal parts of themselves. I loved how the book showed how much a person can change yet in a way still be the same person over forty years time. So beautifully and tastefully written and look forward to reading whatever the author writes next!
Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.
Reviewer 1453589
This was a great fiction read. I enjoyed the story very much. I also like the characters and the plot. And what a beautiful cover. Great book all the way around.
Anna W, Reviewer
Great book. Relatable characters. The plot could have fizzled but the wording made it come alive. I would read another book by this author.
Natalie L, Reviewer
So, what is a romance novel? What is Women’s Fiction? This lovely book defies easy categorizing. It is, in fact, a ROMANTIC novel about love lost and love found.
Forty years after their divorce, Charlie reaches out to his ex-wife Vivian, surprisingly, she is open to a reconnection. Hence the title, forty years between kisses. Vivian is a struggling single grandmother. Her daughter is working to support the family. As the story unfolds, there are secrets which are revealed and difficult changes to contend with. As an older reader, I gloried in each moment. I especially liked the inclusion of Charlie’s years, ex p-wife, and finances.
I highly recommend this to my readers. As I went through the Reader’s Guide, I found myself thinking about the questions and very excited about discussions.
Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.
Trish R, Reviewer
A gorgeous, gorgeous book.. I’m a longtime fan of Nickolas Butler’s work, and his latest novel does not disappoint. My favorite thing about it is the way he takes everyday things and elevates them, filling them with the meaning they deserve. He does a great job capturing one of the biggest questions of life: do we stay where we are and play it safe, or take a chance when a new possibility shows up and surprises us? I love how his characters navigate this. It’s both poignant and thought-provoking. I especially appreciated the complexity he weaves into the female characters, the way their simple exterior lives hid multi-faceted hopes and dreams, regrets and yearnings. This is a great read.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book to review.
Librarian 399679
Nickolas Butler excels at quiet, Midwestern characters and his new novel, A Forty-Year Kiss, only adds to his collection. Charlie and Vivian’s marriage ended forty years ago, but now that Charlie is retired he cannot stop thinking about her. He returns to the small town of Chippewa Fall, Wisconsin intent on restarting some kind of relationship with Viv — even if it’s only friendship. Switching back and forth between the two characters, Butler delves into how differently the forty years apart treated both of them and the challenges they face trying to reconnect. A Forty-Year Kiss is a sweet book about second chances, growing older, and finding happiness and family at any age.
Antionette K, Reviewer
Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of A Forty Year Kiss in return for a review.
I downloaded this book when I saw the wonderful reader reviews it had received- and they were NOT wrong.
Vivian and Charlie were married a lifetime ago, and Charlie’s life choices led to a divorce 2 years in. Now they are in their 60s with a life already lived. They’re adults now and know what had gone wrong 40 years ago.
Small and big things, forgotten and forgiven. An overall heartwarming story.
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