Calorie-free satisfaction.
Four British women commiserate and conspire over chocolate in the latest from U.K. bestselling author Matthews (Welcome to the Real World, 2006, etc.).
Lucy Lombard has hit yet another rough patch in her on-again-off-again relationship with handsome Marcus: The dashing young man just can’t seem to commit. When Lucy stumbles upon him seducing a svelte brunette, she understands why. Lucy subsequently calls for a meeting of the Chocolate Lovers’ Club, whose members consist of Lucy and her sweet-toothed soul mates, Chantal, Nadia and Autumn. The members all harbor a deep passion for fine cocoa concoctions and possess messed-up love lives. To convene the Chocolate Lovers’ Club, a member need only send a text message to the others stating that she is having a “Serious Chocolate Emergency.” The women then drop everything to gather at their favorite haunt, Chocolate Heaven. And there are plenty of 911 messages—much like the gals from Sex and the City, these 30 year olds seem to court trouble. While trying to rebound from Marcus’s betrayal, Lucy manages to attract both her boss and a male escort—where oh where are suitable suitors? As for the others, Chantal and Nadia are suffering through tricky spots in their marriages, and Autumn is dealing with a junkie brother who moves in with her and manages to wreck her apartment and interfere with a budding romance. Matthews presents gal pals who sidestep pettiness to forge remarkable friendships. It’s a welcome sight: women banding together to help solve problems.
Calorie-free satisfaction.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-37666-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2007
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
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
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