Throw in all the right ingredients—fashion, sex and female empowerment—blend, and out comes this frothy, enjoyable read.
Two sisters, one prim and proper, the other hip and artsy, lose and find love, and have a few epiphanies as to what makes a healthy relationship in 21st-century London.
Martha has it all, or so younger sister Eliza thinks, while looking around her own grubby Shepherd’s Bush flat. Martha has a smart Holland Park house, a dependable husband in Michael and two beautiful toddlers. Sure, Eliza has sexy Greg, who knows her better than anyone, but she’s tired of life with a knockabout musician who sells hats. She wants a man with a pension plan and a mortgage. With barely an explanation to Greg, Eliza packs up and runs to Martha. But it turns out to be Martha who’s in need of tea and comfort. The night before Michael left—he doesn’t love her, and sees no reason to waste his life for the sake of the children. Martha tries to convince him he’s just being silly—of course he’s happy! To no avail, and so the rest of the novel is Martha’s metamorphosis from uptight wife to her more authentic self, the fun woman she was before she was saddled with Michael’s expectations. Helping her on her journey is Jack Hope, sexy, rich and with just one flaw—he wants to be “naked friends” with Martha—that is, have sex, no strings attached. After ten years of marriage, this seems fine, but Eliza is furious. Not only has reliable Martha disappeared, but all the sensible men Martha is introducing Eliza to are, well, sensible. Parks’s novel breezes along (with the exception of a few too many interior monologues) until Eliza and Martha find themselves in serious emotional jeopardy—it may be too late for Eliza and soul-mate Greg, and Jack may be leaving town, just as Michael’s wanting Martha back.
Throw in all the right ingredients—fashion, sex and female empowerment—blend, and out comes this frothy, enjoyable read.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-7434-9649-3
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Downtown Press/Pocket
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2005
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
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