Strictly phoned-in thrills.
Second in Quick’s (The Girl Who Knew Too Much, 2017, etc.) series of thrillers about 1930s Tinseltown.
This installment follows a formula laid down in the first: A woman in jeopardy flees to Burning Cove, California, assumes a new identity, and soon finds a kindred spirit in a man with a dark past who just happens to be fiercely protective and, of course, handsome and sexy. This time, the fugitive is Adelaide Blake, who has escaped from Rushbrook, an insane asylum south of San Francisco. She hopes to elude her husband, Conrad Massey, who had her committed so he could steal her considerable inheritance. Adelaide’s late parents were scientists killed in an accident after concocting a dangerous hallucinogenic drug, Daydream. (Or was it an accident?) Rushbrook administrators, in cahoots with Conrad, were experimenting with Daydream on Adelaide, who survived thanks to her own herbal antidote. Once in Burning Cove, where she's a tea house waitress, Adelaide and readers realize how far-flung—and far-fetched—the Daydream conspiracy is. Known as a resort town where movie stars go on well-publicized retreats, Burning Cove isn’t the likeliest hideaway: Adelaide is being stalked, which is where her neighbor Jake Truett proves helpful: He was formerly in the “import-export” business, with ties to international espionage and other murky (but ultimately patriotic) endeavors. When “Psychic to the Stars” Zolanda and her assistant turn up dead in separate incidents, Adelaide suspects that someone—a dizzying array of someones, in fact—is using Daydream to make murder look like suicide (as she herself witnessed shortly before leaving Rushbrook). Conrad is glimpsed lurking about, and, as Jake and Adelaide attempt to solve the murders, they themselves become targets—taking time out to consummate their love. Although Vera, an actress, “the Most Beautiful Woman in Hollywood,” has a peripheral, mostly offstage role, this volume is surprisingly short on movie dish: Burning Cove could be any resort town.
Strictly phoned-in thrills.Pub Date: May 8, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-399-58532-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
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
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable...
An unlucky woman finally gets lucky in love on an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii.
From getting her hand stuck in a claw machine at age 6 to losing her job, Olive Torres has never felt that luck was on her side. But her fortune changes when she scores a free vacation after her identical twin sister and new brother-in-law get food poisoning at their wedding buffet and are too sick to go on their honeymoon. The only catch is that she’ll have to share the honeymoon suite with her least favorite person—Ethan Thomas, the brother of the groom. To make matters worse, Olive’s new boss and Ethan’s ex-girlfriend show up in Hawaii, forcing them both to pretend to be newlyweds so they don’t blow their cover, as their all-inclusive vacation package is nontransferable and in her sister’s name. Plus, Ethan really wants to save face in front of his ex. The story is told almost exclusively from Olive’s point of view, filtering all communication through her cynical lens until Ethan can win her over (and finally have his say in the epilogue). To get to the happily-ever-after, Ethan doesn’t have to prove to Olive that he can be a better man, only that he was never the jerk she thought he was—for instance, when she thought he was judging her for eating cheese curds, maybe he was actually thinking of asking her out. Blending witty banter with healthy adult communication, the fake newlyweds have real chemistry as they talk it out over snorkeling trips, couples massages, and a few too many tropical drinks to get to the truth—that they’re crazy about each other.
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable as well as free.Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2803-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
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