A fast-paced and entertaining romance with a sci-fi twist.
A U.S. Marine exiled to a distant planet finds himself falling in love with the woman who is central to his plan for escape.
Griffin Jude Payne is a man on a mission. The last Marine, he watched as Alfred Parnell, prime minister of the U.N., embarked on a campaign to unite all countries of the world under a single, Utopian government, exiling anyone considered undesirable to the planet Asteria. On the night of Alfred’s speech to the world, Griffin assassinates him in front of his wife, Prudence, and brother, Randolph. During Griffin’s trial, Prudence makes plans of her own. Abused by the Parnell brothers, she plans to escape to Asteria. Both Griffin and Prudence find themselves on the same ship bound for the planet. Griffin hopes to locate his brother Lucan; commandeer a spaceship; and return to Earth to lead a rebellion. He believes Prudence could be a valuable bargaining chip, but Prudence would prefer to stay on Asteria. As they fight to survive on the unfamiliar planet, a romance develops that enables them to heal the wounds of their pasts. Together, they must face a new enemy as Randolph sets in motion a plan to kill Griffin and return Prudence to Earth. Crescent’s (Don’t Let Me Forget You, 2016, etc.) latest is a genre-bending mix of romance, sci-fi, and political thriller. The romance’s chief strengths are its focused storytelling, nuanced leads, and imaginative settings. The novel opens on a suspenseful note as Griffin plans to assassinate Alfred. Crescent maintains a high level of tension as Griffin and Prudence struggle to persevere on Asteria while outmaneuvering Randolph. Griffin and Prudence are appealing characters whose romance crackles with moments that are tender and erotic. Prudence, half-human and half-Lythonian, an alien race, possesses a special gift she can only transfer to her mate. Griffin is an honorable Marine coping with feelings of guilt and remorse. Their romance blossoms gradually but believably. The planet Asteria is vividly realized with well-developed descriptions of the terrain and native creatures.
A fast-paced and entertaining romance with a sci-fi twist.Pub Date: Dec. 23, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9971872-1-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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