A dose of supernatural powers turns a self-satisfied former cheerleader into an emotional wreck, and maybe a more authentic person.
Tilly Farmer has it all—at least according to her own estimation. She and Tyler, popular high-school sweethearts, are now married, tucked away in their little house in the same small Washington town in which they were raised. Tilly is the guidance counselor at her old high school and gets to relive the glory days everyday. No matter that her talented younger sister Darcy “escaped” as soon as she could to Los Angeles And forget that Tyler is haunted by lost dreams—he was on the way to becoming a pro ball player before a college injury—in the town where he was once a hero. To Tilly, everyone is happy, happy, happy. Until the county fair that is, when a long-lost school friend, Ashley, manning the psychic booth, gives Tilly a head massage. Boom! Clarity finally comes to 32-year-old Tilly, who begins to see the future through visions. She quickly comes to appreciate how much of life she’s lived with blinders on. Into the picture falls Eli, the school’s new cool art teacher, who gets Tilly interested in photography again. Unsurprisingly the lesson is: 1) Tilly has not followed her own dreams and 2) She has invested her energy in caring for others. Tilly is angry, not only at her new psychic gift, but at all the reality she’s missed out on, such as noticing the slow disintegration of her marriage. Never fear, once she gets used to reality, she begins to like its potential.
Pleasant, predictable beach-bag fare from Scotch (Time of My Life, 2008, etc.).Pub Date: June 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-307-46450-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Shaye Areheart/Harmony
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2010
Categories: GENERAL ROMANCE | ROMANCE | CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
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A clever, romantic, sexy love story.
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The much-loved royal romance genre gets a fun and refreshing update in McQuiston’s debut.
Alex Claremont-Diaz, son of the American President Ellen Claremont, knows one thing for sure: He hates Henry, the British prince to whom he is always compared. He lives for their verbal sparring matches, but when one of their fights at a royal wedding goes a bit too far, they end up falling into a wedding cake and making tabloid headlines. An international scandal could ruin Alex’s mother’s chances for re-election, so it’s time for damage control. The plan? Alex and Henry must pretend to be best friends, giving the tabloids pictures of their bromance and neutralizing the threat to Ellen's presidency. But after a few photo ops with Henry, Alex starts to realize that the passionate anger he feels toward him might be a cover for regular old passion. There are, naturally, a million roadblocks between their first kiss and their happily-ever-after—how can American political royalty and actual British royalty ever be together? How can they navigate being open about their sexualities (Alex is bisexual; Henry is gay) in their very public and very scrutinized roles? Alex and Henry must decide if they’ll risk their futures, their families, and their careers to take a chance on happiness. Although the story’s premise might be a fantasy—it takes place in a world in which a divorced-mom Texan Democrat won the 2016 election—the emotions are all real. The love affair between Alex and Henry is intense and romantic, made all the more so by the inclusion of their poetic emails that manage to be both funny and steamy. McQuiston’s strength is in dialogue; her characters speak in hilarious rapid-fire bursts with plenty of “likes,” “ums,” creative punctuation, and pop-culture references, sounding like smarter, funnier versions of real people. Although Alex and Henry’s relationship is the heart of the story, their friends and family members are all rich, well-drawn characters, and their respective worlds feel both realistic and larger-than-life.
A clever, romantic, sexy love story.Pub Date: June 4, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-31677-6
Page Count: 432
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
Categories: GENERAL ROMANCE | ROMANCE | LBGTQ
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An abused boy fights back, escapes, then returns as an attorney to his beloved hometown, but just as he’s falling in love with a transplanted landscaper, a series of attacks from shadowy enemies jeopardizes their happiness.
“From the outside, the house in Lakeview Terrace looked perfect.” Which of course means that it wasn't. We're introduced to the horrifying Dr. Graham Bigelow, who beats his wife and, increasingly as the boy gets older, his son, Zane. On the night of Zane’s prom, a particularly savage attack puts him and his sister in the hospital, and his father blames Zane, landing him in jail. Then his sister stands up for him, enlisting the aid of their aunt, and everything changes, mainly due to Zane’s secret diaries. Nearly 20 years later, Zane leaves a successful career as a lawyer to return to Lakeview, where his aunt and sister live with their families, deciding to hang a shingle as a small-town lawyer. Then he meets Darby McCray, the landscaper who’s recently relocated and taken the town by storm, starting with the transformation of his family’s rental bungalows. The two are instantly intrigued by each other, but they move slowly into a relationship neither is looking for. Darby has a violent past of her own, so she is more than willing to take on the risk of antagonizing a boorish local family when she and Zane help an abused wife. Suddenly Zane and Darby face one attack after another, and even as they grow ever closer under the pressure, the dangers become more insidious. Roberts’ latest title feels a little long and the story is slightly cumbersome, but her greatest strength is in making the reader feel connected to her characters, so “unnecessary details” can also charm and engage.
Another success for the publishing phenom.Pub Date: July 9, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-20709-8
Page Count: 448
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2019
Categories: GENERAL ROMANCE | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | ROMANCE | SUSPENSE | SUSPENSE
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