A royally original and captivating debut.
In the tradition of Princess Grace and Princess Diana, Bartlett’s heroine is thrust into the spotlight to lead a life both decadent and tragic.
Isabella Cordage was born a minor player in the royal circles of Bisbania, a small mythical country in Europe. Her candor and ease allow her to become the Prince of Gallagher’s closest female confidant. Though her social status makes her an improbable candidate for queen, Isabella manages to stand out amidst a gaggle of royal sycophants and capture the prince’s heart. Now under the scrutiny of paparazzi, who dub her Princess Izzy, Isabella finds that her life has become fodder for the tabloids. And she has one secret: a friendship with an American mechanic many years before her engagement. While attending Yale, Geoffrey performed weekly maintenance on Isabella’s automobile. During the routine car-bomb inspections, the two developed an easy camaraderie, and he introduced her to the poetic lyrics of Bruce Springsteen (hence the title). The couple managed a brief kiss, redolent with romantic possibility, before Isabella returned home. Now positioned to be queen, she worries about a photograph that may have been snapped of this kiss. In order to keep her past a secret and stave off a pre-wedding press bonanza, Isabella decides to buy Geoffrey’s silence, offering him a position at the castle. Though he would never think of extorting Isabella, the lure of financial security and the glamour afforded by living among royalty bring Geoffrey and his young wife to Bisbania. This sets in motion a course of events that leaves the reader frantically flipping pages to solve the fantastic riddles hidden within. Bartlett’s narrative voice is whimsical without ever being absurd; her only fault is her overly ambitious attempt to pull off one too many devastating revelations: Plane crashes, paternity questions and romantic entanglements are more than enough to keep the plot zooming along.
A royally original and captivating debut.Pub Date: March 23, 2006
ISBN: 0-446-69559-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: 5 Spot/Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
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
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