An inviting take on universal themes.
Crane (Frenemies, 2007, etc.) explores a woman’s discoveries about sisterly love, first love and true love.
The story is more serious than the book’s frivolous cover would suggest. It concerns Courtney Cassel, a professional cellist whose accomplishments are praised by everyone, including fiery best friend Verena and adoring fiancé Lucas. Unfortunately, Courtney’s achievements are largely ignored by those who matter most to her—her family. After Courtney’s father abandoned the clan, Courtney became lost amidst the commanding personalities of sisters Raine and Norah. Raine turned into a rebellious hippie, her Birkenstocks and creative impulses the opposite of Norah’s intellectualism and Type A personality. The chasm between the two grew exponentially, and things only got worse at Norah’s wedding, where Raine caused a scene, then took off for California with Matt Cheney, Raine’s best friend and Courtney’s first love. Six years later, Courtney is convinced that her engagement party will be the perfect opportunity to reunite her family, and she accompanies Lucas to San Francisco. She finds Raine tending bar and exploring her artistic side by taking anatomical self-portraits, and comes face-to-face with Matt Cheney. Gorgeous and alluring as ever, the rush of attraction she has always felt toward him comes flooding back. Instead of setting a wedding date, Courtney becomes consumed by her desire to both win Raine’s affection (while maintaining Norah’s approval) and understand her feelings for Lucas and Matt. Lucas and Matt and Norah and Raine, though somewhat two-dimensional, are artfully pitted against one another. In this world of catty sibling rivalry, where the protagonist serves as doormat, Lucas remains the most admirable, solid character, and Verena, despite her penchant for shopping and promiscuity, acts as the surprising moral compass. While it takes Courtney some time to learn that self-worth comes from within, her innocence, sincerity and sense of humor will keep readers entertained.
An inviting take on universal themes.Pub Date: April 11, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-446-69856-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: 5 Spot/Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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