A lightweight novel with a Latina heroine, a supporting cast of game-show contestants in Halloween costumes, and props that...
A Nicaraguan nurse visits the United States to compete for a grant and ends up meeting an aspiring television writer from Illinois who's interning on a tanking late-night show.
In this follow-up to her debut novel, Heger (Without Borders, 2016) launches into a screwball comedy that sustains its madcap energy for much of the exposition. Marisol Gutierrez is in LA to win funds for a grass-roots medical organization—and try out for her favorite game show—when she bumps into Evan Abramson, an intern at the disastrous So Late It’s Early Show. She agrees to be in its sparse audience but finds herself in a skit with him instead; their chemistry results in a ratings spike, and they're tagged as a couple on social media (#Marivan). Despite some misgivings, Marisol trades additional appearances on the show for the promise of its crew’s help in professionalizing her grant presentation. As she and Evan film a series of dopey interactions where she plays his dating guru, they start to fall in love. There are some funny episodes involving Marisol coaching Evan through bad pickup lines and staged dates against campy backdrops; others flesh out their individual histories and family dynamics. But the attempt to show the clueless bigotry of non-Latinos can edge into caricature, and the grant competitors who try to sabotage Marisol’s application come across as unfortunate stereotypes of bitchy women. While the comic pace slackens in the last third of the book, the question of how the romance and the grant will turn out keep the reader’s interest.
A lightweight novel with a Latina heroine, a supporting cast of game-show contestants in Halloween costumes, and props that include fake dog poop—think Katie MacAlister meets Jimmy Fallon.Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-68230-303-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Diversion Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 6, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
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
To her usual mix of love, mystery, and passion, Roberts (Sanctuary, 1997, etc.)—author of 115 romancers in some 17 years—adds Renaissance art and a decidedly Medici-like family: the Joneses of Maine. Dr. Miranda Jones, nearly six feet with flaming red hair and a glacial reserve, is an archeometrist who specializes in the analyzing and dating of Renaissance bronze sculpture. Miranda hopes to secure a world-class reputation for herself by authenticating a 15th-century statue of the Dark Lady, one of the mistresses of Lorenzo the Magnificent, as the undiscovered work of a young Michelangelo. Miranda's mother, Dr. Elizabeth Standford-Jones, the emotionally remote director of the Standjo art lab in Florence, has summoned her daughter from the family's Victorian cliffside home in Jones Point, Maine, to test the statue. Meanwhile, Miranda's father, equally remote, is an archaeologist who spends more time at his digs than at home. In fact, no one in the Jones family has made a successful run at marriage, a failure that Miranda and her alcoholic brother Andrew call the Jones curse. As for the statue, when it's discovered to be a fake, Miranda sets out to prove that someone stole the original. In this she's helped by gorgeous art thief Ryan Boldari (half-Italian, half-Irish), who's come to Jones Point to steal yet another bronze, which also turns out to be a forgery. Ryan's plan had been to use Miranda as a pawn, but now, naturally, he finds himself falling hard for her. While the two search for bronzes, a standard-issue romance-novel psychotic is stalking them. Most readers will twig to the killer's identity: Here, as always, Roberts's sexual tension is more compelling than her suspense. Perhaps it's time to take a sabbatical from the pink sweatshop and turn her considerable wit and narrative skills to a more original piece of work.
Pub Date: March 23, 1998
ISBN: 0-399-14387-4
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1998
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