An entertaining, page-turning historical romance that may appeal to fans of Eloisa James.
In Warfield’s (The Renegade Wife, 2016, etc.) latest series installment, an English duke in 1838 finds political intrigue and a second chance at love while investigating the opium trade in China.
Charles Wheatly, the Duke of Murnane, believed that he had everything until his world collapsed under a cloud of tragedy and scandal. Desperate for a distraction, he’s intrigued when his mentor, the Duke of Sudbury, presents him with an offer from Queen Victoria. Rogue traders are selling opium throughout China, and the Chinese are pushing back against the traders. The queen wants Charles to go to Asia and investigate the situation. When he arrives in Macau, he’s startled to encounter Zambak Hayden, the Duke of Sudbury’s daughter. Her brother, John Thornton “Thorn” Hayden, is floundering as a clerk for the East India Company, and she intends to protect him. As Charles’ investigation intensifies, Zambak discovers that Thorn is also addicted to opium. While Charles and Zambak work to identify the key players in the opium trade, they find themselves falling in love. Their connection is soon tested when political tensions in the region threaten to escalate into military conflict, and Charles’ estranged wife, Julia, resurfaces to wreak havoc on his reputation. The third installment of Warfield’s Children of Empire series is a keenly observed historical romance, replete with detailed settings, dynamic characters, and a multilayered plot. It’s set in the months leading up to the First Opium War, and although the story is fictional, Warfield references historical figures throughout, including English superintendent Charles Elliot and Chinese official Lin Zexu. Warfield excels at creating well-drawn main characters; Charles is shown to be an honorable man who’s trying to rebuild his life and career after the death of his son, and Zambak is depicted as intelligent, strong-willed, and determined to live life on her own terms. The author deftly balances the romance with the political intrigue of the opium trade and Charles’ quest to end his disastrous marriage.
An entertaining, page-turning historical romance that may appeal to fans of Eloisa James.Pub Date: July 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68291-766-4
Page Count: 326
Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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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