The story moves forward, but the journey is uninspired.
Samantha Collins is shocked when her grandfather leaves her his auto turbocharger empire; even worse, he expects her to get Collins Industries back on track with Dillon Montgomery, the man she’s secretly loved since she was 13.
Abe Collins was always a stubborn man, but on his deathbed, he can see a few things clearly: That he’s made some serious mistakes playing it safe; that his company is in trouble because of it; and that there’s no way he can trust his elder son, Evan, to put it right. That leaves Samantha, orphaned daughter of his younger son William, who died in a plane crash with his wife when Sam was a teen. Now she’s a bright young woman, and Abe knows she can turn the company around with help from Dillon Montgomery, a true automobile visionary and son of Abe’s secretary, Marlene. So Abe changes his will the day before he dies, leaving the company to Samantha and Dillon, expecting them to put their heads together and save Collins Industries. Of course, this move does not sit well with Evan and his family, and in fact, it’s uncomfortable for Sam and Dillon, too, since they shared an awkward encounter years ago, soon after Sam lost her parents. When the will is read, everyone is stunned, but Samantha does as he asks to honor him, and Dillon can’t find it in him to abandon Sam. As the two work together to adjust the technologies that will put Collins back on the map, they find that there are other reasons for the company’s decline, and they’ll have to dig deeper to get answers. Using an outside CPA and Dillon’s friend Roman to audit the books sheds light on some financial mysteries while also bringing a new chance at love for Dillon’s mom and possibly creating danger for them all, forcing Sam and Dillon to face their attraction head-on. Conceptually, this plot sounds interesting, and there are some compelling details to the story. However, poor pacing and otherwise lackluster storytelling hinder what could be an engaging book.
The story moves forward, but the journey is uninspired.Pub Date: June 18, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-312-68163-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
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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