A charming, if uneven, romance with a memorable leading lady.
A small-town tale of romance and corruption.
Hinske’s (Coming to Rosemont, 2012) second novel delves further into the adventures of Maggie Martin, a forensic accountant–turned–reluctant mayor of Westbury, a Norman Rockwell–esque Midwestern town—at least on the surface. Maggie, who in the previous book won the election with a last-minute write-in campaign, must now pick up the pieces after the previous mayor embezzled from the city treasury. Unfortunately, the solution likely involves cuts to employee salaries and pensions, which has made Maggie unpopular with constituents. Plus, she suspects that several council members might still be playing fast and loose with the town’s funds. She finds solace in Rosemont, the beautiful estate left to her by her dead husband, and her relationship with local vet Dr. John Allen. But Maggie devotes so much time to her mayoral duties that she neglects John, and the relationship sours. The corruption angle takes a back seat to various romances, from spunky Maggie’s evolving relationship with John to her daughter Susan’s budding affair with a young doctor to the sweet saga of elderly Glenn and Gloria, who fall in love as they fight to save their retirement community (which is facing foreclosure due to the town’s financial troubles). Meanwhile, the question of what’s really going on with the town’s finances remains unanswered, despite the appearance of mysterious papers in a dusty attic, a murder staged to look like a suicide and a corrupt council member with a propensity for violence. Hinske has an appealing heroine in Maggie, a middle-aged woman with a zest for living; she’s now struggling to find her footing after some major, and unexpected, personal changes. But the novel is stuffed with secondary characters and subplots, and many of the major conflicts are left unresolved, leaving readers hanging for the series’ third installment. Still, things move along at a pleasantly fast clip, and the dialogue jumps from the page. Evocative details and scenes bring the story to life, such as a big family Thanksgiving dinner and Maggie’s successful (and amusing) foray into online dating.
A charming, if uneven, romance with a memorable leading lady.Pub Date: May 15, 2014
ISBN: 978-1499182125
Page Count: 276
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Entertaining and thoroughly engrossing.
Another reboot of Jane Austen?!? Hadlow pulls it off in a smart, heartfelt novel devoted to bookish Mary, middle of the five sisters in Pride and Prejudice.
Part 1 recaps Pride and Prejudice through Mary’s eyes, climaxing with the humiliating moment when she sings poorly at a party and older sister Elizabeth goads their father to cut her off in front of everyone. The sisters’ friend Charlotte, who marries the unctuous Mr. Collins after Elizabeth rejects him, emerges as a pivotal character; her conversations with Mary are even tougher-minded here than those with Elizabeth depicted by Austen. In Part 2, two years later, Mary observes on a visit that Charlotte is deferential but remote with her husband; she forms an intellectual friendship with the neglected and surprisingly nice Mr. Collins that leads to Charlotte’s asking Mary to leave. In Part 3, Mary finds refuge in London with her kindly aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner. Mrs. Gardiner is the second motherly woman, after Longbourn housekeeper Mrs. Hill, to try to undo the psychic damage wrought by Mary’s actual mother, shallow, status-obsessed Mrs. Bennet, by building up her confidence and buying her some nice clothes (funded by guilt-ridden Lizzy). Sure enough, two suitors appear: Tom Hayward, a poetry-loving lawyer who relishes Mary’s intellect but urges her to also express her feelings; and William Ryder, charming but feckless inheritor of a large fortune, whom naturally Mrs. Bennet loudly favors. It takes some maneuvering to orchestrate the estrangement of Mary and Tom, so clearly right for each other, but debut novelist Hadlow manages it with aplomb in a bravura passage describing a walking tour of the Lake District rife with seething complications furthered by odious Caroline Bingley. Her comeuppance at Mary’s hands marks the welcome final step in our heroine’s transformation from a self-doubting wallflower to a vibrant, self-assured woman who deserves her happy ending. Hadlow traces that progression with sensitivity, emotional clarity, and a quiet edge of social criticism Austen would have relished.
Entertaining and thoroughly engrossing.Pub Date: March 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-12941-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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
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