A boomtown fairy-tale romance perfect for a light vacation read.
Historical fiction about a young woman who runs from Philadelphia to the Wild West in the 1890s.
Debut novelist Perkovich presents Evie Logan, a free-spirited 18-year-old who’s being forced by her father to marry a vile man by the name of William Douglas. Despite the rarity of arranged marriages by the 1890s, Evie’s father uses the custom to create a favorable business arrangement for himself—with his daughter as a key bargaining chip. Unfortunately, William is a hateful man with few redeeming qualities. When Evie overhears him boasting about his involvement in a violent crime, she knows that she must escape before she’s sentenced to a life of misery. With a laughable disguise, she travels from Philadelphia all the way to a burgeoning hub of the Wild West in Colorado. Her quick wit and creative cooking skills land her a job, where she catches the attention of Jackson Douglas, who happens to be William’s cousin. Jackson realizes that this young redhead is the same girl he read about in the local paper; William placed an ad offering a hefty reward for her recapture. Jackson has always despised his cousin, so he hires Evie as his personal cook, hoping he can help her escape William for good. It’s not long, though, before others in town deduce that Evie is that same girl described in the paper. Evie, Jackson, and their friends must fend off threats until Jackson devises an outlandish plan to save Evie permanently. In this fast-paced, action-packed adventure, Perkovich creates one suspenseful scenario after another. She also peppers the tale with engrossing details about the growth of the Wild West in the late 19th century, expertly juxtaposing blithe Western customs with the stodgy, stifling mores of the Northeast. Although the story’s ending is somewhat predictable, readers will delight in following Evie through her adventures. Overall, the author has created a tale that’s chock-full of intriguing period particulars and a heroine who’s fresh, competent, and engaging.
A boomtown fairy-tale romance perfect for a light vacation read.Pub Date: July 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4917-6576-0
Page Count: 298
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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