An imperfect debut that may still capture the audience’s attention and affection given its appealing themes and...
The mysterious disappearance of her local celebrity boyfriend sends Vivi McFadden to her best friend and attorney, Blake O’Hara Heart, and together, the two women explore history, friendship and matters of the heart to get to many different truths.
When Vivi is certain she’s killed her boyfriend, Lewis Heart, by, ahem, loving him to death, she calls the one person in the world she trusts to take care of her: Blake, her best friend since childhood and a crack attorney. But when the police get to the scene, the body has disappeared. Tracking down clues at first throws Vivi under suspicion, but the case gets more mysterious and complicated as the days pass, especially since Lewis is Blake’s brother-in-law, and Harry, Blake’s husband, has political aspirations. Also, the lead investigator on the case is Blake’s high school sweetheart, Sonny, which confuses Blake, since she and Harry suddenly seem to be moving toward different goals in life. The salacious nature of the whole story is embarrassing to Harry, and for a man who hopes to be a Senator, a sprawling, colorful cast of secondary characters with distinct Southern flairs can be troublesome. As Vivi, Blake, Sonny and Harry follow Lewis’ trail, secrets, attractions and attachments will play out in surprising ways, with distinct nods to the strength of family, the friendship sisterhood and the indomitable Southern spirit. Albright’s first novel is a frothy, frolicking story with enough over-the-top characters and quirky plot points that many readers won’t notice, or will be entertained enough to forgive, the roller-coaster pacing, the occasionally awkward storytelling, and the characters who do things that don’t always make sense for them or show them in admirable ways.
An imperfect debut that may still capture the audience’s attention and affection given its appealing themes and high-spirited style.Pub Date: May 28, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7783-1528-5
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2013
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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