Despite some appetizing menu items, pretty standard fare.
Two old friends, troubled by present crises and past mistakes, reunite on an island off the coast of Maine.
It’s been 10 years since Nicole, a food blogger, has seen her best friend, Charlotte. The separation is due in part to the women’s divergent life paths. Nicole married Julian, a prominent pediatric surgeon and sought-after consultant, and is stepmother to his two children. Charlotte travels the world on magazine assignments. Now, Nicole is at her parents’ summer home on Quinnipeague Island, publishing contract in hand, preparing to write a cookbook on local cuisine. She is also there to ready the place to sell after her father’s sudden passing. When Nicole summons Charlotte to Quinnipeague to help with the book, Charlotte has reservations due to a secret she has harbored for years: Shortly before Nicole’s wedding, she had a drunken one-night stand with Julian. A pregnancy resulted; the child was given up for adoption. Sharing the seaside house while Julian is away, Charlotte and Nicole bond once more over the challenges of wresting recipes from the crusty islanders and over best-selling beach read Salt. When told that Leo, son of a reputed witch, refuses to divulge the magical lore of his mother’s herb farm, Charlotte, who cannot resist an unwilling interview subject, seeks him out. At first blush an eccentric recluse, Leo proves to be not only a dead ringer for Salt’s romantic hero, but also its pseudonymous author, which explains that new sailboat and those expensive renovations to his weather-beaten house. Charlotte is distracted from their blossoming romance by a moral dilemma: Julian, Nicole reveals, has MS and wants to try an experimental and dangerous stem cell treatment protocol. Nicole is opposed to the risky procedure, but when Charlotte reveals how and why she has access to just the genetically compatible umbilical stem cells Julian might need, the friendship is threatened. The result: promising complications, rendered less than compelling by plodding, talky narration.
Despite some appetizing menu items, pretty standard fare.Pub Date: June 18, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-250-00703-2
Page Count: 416
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2013
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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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