For every line that snaps (“Sometimes I think reality is the most painful thing in life”), a dozen go limp (“I do have...
How soon can a comic fantasy fizzle? Just as soon as you find out that the title refers not only to the central (and virtually the only) situation, but also to the heroine, Miss Honeymoon Holt.
Honey is a bratty motormouth searching for love in all the wrong neighborhoods of London. And now, as the story opens with the shrewdly chosen tableau of her hen party careening around the West End in a rented limo, she’s finally found Mr. Right, or at least Mr. Available. Ed, her Intended, is “kind and good and wise and decent and hard-working and—er—clean and sexually functional and non-smoking.” But he’s not Alex, the Love of her Life, who disappeared a few hours after he entered it for a magically platonic night seven years ago to become a wealthy Hollywood wannabe and hasn’t been heard from since, at least until (1) he turns out to be the bridegroom for whose wedding Honey’s kid sister Ven has been doing the feng shui, and (2) he pops up with his bride Cherelle, the world’s most self-effacing agent, at the same New York hotel where Honey and Ed are spending their own wedding night. It must have sounded like a great idea when TV/screenwriter Jenkins pitched it—a distaff Heartbreak Kid with two new marriages at stake instead of just one—but it falls flat because there’s nothing to support the juicy central concept: no logical lead-in, no compelling complications to follow, just Honey’s adorably vapid chatter, her six time-tested steps in How to Get a Husband, and a thousand warmed-over digressions.
For every line that snaps (“Sometimes I think reality is the most painful thing in life”), a dozen go limp (“I do have friends who are male . . . but they’re either gay or I’ve slept with them”).Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2000
ISBN: 0-316-65570-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2000
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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