The adult climax really has power and is worth waiting for.
Dickey’s fifth novel (Cheaters, 1999, etc.) begins unpromisingly with hip smart-talking and gloomy banter, but eventually the characters—and the author’s treatment of them—mature and deepen.
As the story begins, Vincent Calvary Browne Jr. mopes over his former wife, Malaika, who has vanished into Germany with her new husband and Vince’s daughter Kwanzaa. Recently orphaned and about to turn 30 as well, Vince hits the bars. At a soul-food restaurant in the black, middle-class section of Los Angeles, he meets Dana Ann Smith, a Harlemite who has relocated to escape a lover she found in bed with another woman after he’d led her into bankruptcy. So Dana has plenty of her own problems, plus back taxes, not to mention she’s not doing so well as a realtor. The two begin a relationship, with Vince lying about his marital background and his anxieties over Kwanzaa, while Dana lies about her background and about former lover Claudio, who still haunts her dreams and invades her fantasies as Vince makes love to her. (Clearly the novel’s title should be a plural possessive.) Vince too is still thinking about his ex, even though her disappearing without a word suggests that she never loved him. Nonetheless, he keeps a video of their lovemaking and at times it replays somewhere in his inner depths as he embraces Dana. A big dustup erupts when Malaika phones to say that she now lives in nearby San Bernardino, but Vince still can’t see Kwanzaa. When Dana insists that he stand up for his rights, the lovers come to blows. Then Claudio arrives in L.A., and Dana and Vince fall into mutual infidelities, which they seem unable to survive.
The adult climax really has power and is worth waiting for.Pub Date: June 26, 2000
ISBN: 0-525-94483-4
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2000
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A fascinating, thought-provoking, genre-bending romantic read.
When Solène Marchand takes her 12-year-old daughter to a concert by the hottest boy band on the planet, she doesn't expect to fall in love with one of the singers.
Middle-aged art gallery owner Solène hasn’t dated since her divorce, but when her ex-husband buys their daughter and a group of her friends tickets to Vegas and a backstage concert experience, then backs out at the last minute, she steps in as escort. The five guys in the wildly popular English boy band August Moon appeal to women of all ages, but Hayes, the brains behind the group’s success, flirts with Solène at the concert meet and greet, invites them to a party after the show, then pursues her once she gets back to Los Angeles. He’s only 20 and he’s incredibly famous; his attention is flattering and heady. The two fall into an affair that’s supposed to be light and easy, but before long they can’t ignore their intense emotional attachment. Solène is hesitant to tell her daughter, but when she procrastinates, Isabelle learns about it through an online tabloid, which damages their relationship and leaves Solène open to censure from her ex. Then, once the affair goes viral, she experiences the darker side of Hayes’ fan base. What started out as a jaunty adventure turns into an emotionally fraught journey, and Solène must decide what she’s willing to risk for her happiness and what she won’t risk for her daughter’s. Actress Lee, who appeared in Fifty Shades Darker, debuts with a beautifully written novel that explores sex, love, romance, and fantasy in moving, insightful ways while also examining a woman’s struggle with aging and sexism, with a nod at the tension between celebrity and privacy.
A fascinating, thought-provoking, genre-bending romantic read.Pub Date: June 13, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-12590-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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