An imperfect debut that may still capture the audience’s attention and affection given its appealing themes and...
The mysterious disappearance of her local celebrity boyfriend sends Vivi McFadden to her best friend and attorney, Blake O’Hara Heart, and together, the two women explore history, friendship and matters of the heart to get to many different truths.
When Vivi is certain she’s killed her boyfriend, Lewis Heart, by, ahem, loving him to death, she calls the one person in the world she trusts to take care of her: Blake, her best friend since childhood and a crack attorney. But when the police get to the scene, the body has disappeared. Tracking down clues at first throws Vivi under suspicion, but the case gets more mysterious and complicated as the days pass, especially since Lewis is Blake’s brother-in-law, and Harry, Blake’s husband, has political aspirations. Also, the lead investigator on the case is Blake’s high school sweetheart, Sonny, which confuses Blake, since she and Harry suddenly seem to be moving toward different goals in life. The salacious nature of the whole story is embarrassing to Harry, and for a man who hopes to be a Senator, a sprawling, colorful cast of secondary characters with distinct Southern flairs can be troublesome. As Vivi, Blake, Sonny and Harry follow Lewis’ trail, secrets, attractions and attachments will play out in surprising ways, with distinct nods to the strength of family, the friendship sisterhood and the indomitable Southern spirit. Albright’s first novel is a frothy, frolicking story with enough over-the-top characters and quirky plot points that many readers won’t notice, or will be entertained enough to forgive, the roller-coaster pacing, the occasionally awkward storytelling, and the characters who do things that don’t always make sense for them or show them in admirable ways.
An imperfect debut that may still capture the audience’s attention and affection given its appealing themes and high-spirited style.Pub Date: May 28, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7783-1528-5
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2013
Above-average formula fiction, making full display of the author’s strong suits: sense of place, compassion for characters...
Female rivalry is again the main preoccupation of Hannah’s latest Pacific Northwest sob saga (Firefly Lane, 2008, etc.).
At Water’s Edge, the family seat overlooking Hood Canal, Vivi Ann, youngest and prettiest of the Grey sisters and a champion horsewoman, has persuaded embittered patriarch Henry to turn the tumbledown ranch into a Western-style equestrian arena. Eldest sister Winona, a respected lawyer in the nearby village of Oyster Shores, hires taciturn ranch hand Dallas Raintree, a half-Native American. Middle sister Aurora, stay-at-home mother of twins, languishes in a dull marriage. Winona, overweight since adolescence, envies Vivi, whose looks get her everything she wants, especially men. Indeed, Winona’s childhood crush Luke recently proposed to Vivi. Despite Aurora’s urging (her principal role is as sisterly referee), Winona won’t tell Vivi she loves Luke. Yearning for Dallas, Vivi stands up Luke to fall into bed with the enigmatic, tattooed cowboy. Winona snitches to Luke: engagement off. Vivi marries Dallas over Henry’s objections. The love-match triumphs, and Dallas, though scarred by child abuse, is an exemplary father to son Noah. One Christmas Eve, the town floozy is raped and murdered. An eyewitness and forensic evidence incriminate Dallas. Winona refuses to represent him, consigning him to the inept services of a public defender. After a guilty verdict, he’s sentenced to life without parole. A decade later, Winona has reached an uneasy truce with Vivi, who’s still pining for Dallas. Noah is a sullen teen, Aurora a brittle but resigned divorcée. Noah learns about the Seattle Innocence Project. Could modern DNA testing methods exonerate Dallas? Will Aunt Winona redeem herself by reopening the case? The outcome, while predictable, is achieved with more suspense and less sentimental histrionics than usual for Hannah.
Above-average formula fiction, making full display of the author’s strong suits: sense of place, compassion for characters and understanding of family dynamics.Pub Date: Feb. 9, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-312-36410-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2008
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
