A simplistic but well-written love story.
Pettersen’s (Studs and Stilettos, 2013) sweet cowboy romance challenges the notions of trust and forgiveness when those you love betray you.
Dani Tattrie is struggling to keep her ranch afloat while her husband, ex-biker Dex, does prison time after engaging in the ultimate betrayal and shutting her out. Her shattered heart is in as much disrepair as her ranch, but she’s a survivor, determined to do what it takes to recover and find her feet again. While Dex carefully navigates prison to ensure his own survival, Dani is being ruthlessly courted by Jeffrey, a town cop whom her minister father adores. Dex offers no excuses for what he’s done, but in prison, he’s risking his own future to protect others. Jeffrey is blatantly portrayed as a one-dimensional, manipulative mismatch for Dani, which winds up making Dani look weak and unsympathetic for falling for him as much as she does. Although Dex’s experiences in prison are vividly written, engaging and realistic, the real story doesn’t begin until halfway through the book, when he’s released from prison and returns to try to reclaim his old life with the wife who no longer trusts him. The extensive scenes between Jeffrey and Dani, which often illustrate his lack of support for her horse world and his insistence that she sell her beloved ranch, can feel redundant at times, making readers impatient for Dex and Dani to finally start interacting. When they finally get together, the chemistry between them is palpable, and as trust slowly regrows, it’s enjoyable to witness true love blossoming for a second time. Yet it seems that their entire conflict could have been cleared up by a simple conversation before the book even begins. The horse scenes in the book are wonderfully rich, showcasing Pettersen’s expertise and passion for horses. The surprise ending with Dani’s brother has an unexpected, clever twist, but the resolution feels rather incomplete since some characters never get their dues.
A simplistic but well-written love story.Pub Date: July 10, 2014
ISBN: 978-0988115170
Page Count: 290
Publisher: Westerhall
Review Posted Online: Sept. 2, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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