A romance as brash and dynamic as its setting and characters.
Lara Valley is determined to create a better life for herself, working her way through nursing school as a bartender and avoiding relationships, especially with lady killer Johnny Devlin, the tempting, sexy mechanic who’s suddenly her knight in shining armor.
Johnny enjoys his life. Working at Webster’s Garage with his best friends is satisfying, and socializing together at their favorite dive bar is the perfect way to wind down. And yeah, Lara the gorgeous bartender is a nice distraction, but Johnny is a love 'em and leave 'em kind of guy, and she’s turned him down enough times to make it clear she’s not going out with him, despite the fact that their attraction is obvious to everyone. Lara is friendly but standoffish, and everyone at Ray’s bar knows she’s not interested in relationships, that she’s driven and ambitious and keeping her eyes on the prize of getting her nursing degree. But things change the night Lara gets attacked by an amorous customer who won’t take no for an answer and Johnny comes to her aid. Suddenly the thought of a real relationship seems like a good fit for them. Lara sees a deeper side to the charming lady’s man, and Johnny may have discovered a woman he’s willing to commit to. But as their relationship turns serious, the stress of Lara’s schedule and some family turmoil take their tolls, and Johnny’s fears of not being good enough for his smart, striving girlfriend threaten their ability to find balance and happiness. Harte’s take on the redeemed bad boy is fresh and sexy, though the class and self-esteem conflicts become slightly strained in the final act. Scorching sex scenes and gritty language are appropriate to the plot and characters but are further along the heat/cursing spectrum than many mainstream romances, so timorous readers should beware.
A romance as brash and dynamic as its setting and characters.Pub Date: June 7, 2016
ISBN: 978-4926-3026-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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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