A lot going for it, a lot going on, but ultimately disappointing.
Coordinating her best friend’s wedding to San Francisco’s former most eligible bachelor is a dream come true for an up-and-coming party planner, until suddenly every detail of the nuptials, her business, and even her life is under attack.
Zoe Plum is “nothing if not level headed, cool, and collected.” After having been abandoned at the altar, she’s rebuilt her life, focusing on her event-planning business, determined not to need a man. Suddenly, though, everything is threatened. An angry bridezilla is out for revenge, a rival planner is undermining her, and a headline-crazy gossip journalist is hounding her for details of her friend’s highly anticipated wedding. Plus there’s a serial killer on the loose. So it’s hard to sort through exactly who is responsible for what when her van is vandalized, her brakes are cut, and a bomb explodes in her office. Then there's her mother's car accident, which leads her to pressure Zoe to marry a friend’s wealthy son. Not usually one to turn to others, Zoe is nonetheless grateful when she meets Levi, a sexy musician, who helps her navigate the trail of chaos, especially since his laid-back attitude is a good counterpoint to her detail-oriented outlook. The more her life falls apart, the more she realizes Levi makes her whole, but the many threats are getting closer and more ominous. Griffin’s third Rescue Dog series title (Beauty and the Wiener, 2017, etc.) is a breezy (and fairly chaste) read that combines humor, romance, and light suspense. However, for someone described as independent and emotionally controlled, Zoe seems to lose her cool at all the wrong moments; doesn’t stand up to the people she needs to (and apparently has never heard of a noncompete agreement); and makes silly, immature choices.
A lot going for it, a lot going on, but ultimately disappointing.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-08469-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Agreeably credible lovers and a neat piece of home-restoration compensate some for the hokey hauntings on the bayou. Loyal...
A gumbo seasoned with ghosts, love, and murder on the bayou.
When 30-something Declan Fitzgerald of Boston, a successful lawyer and a member of a large and loving family, breaks off his engagement to very suitable Jessica, he knows he needs to change his life. Lawyering is not fun anymore, so, recalling Manet Hall, an old deserted plantation house he once visited with law school classmate and New Orleans native Remy, he buys the property and moves down south. Declan is also a gifted craftsman, a born decorator, and very, very rich. Soon, he meets beautiful Lena, who’s visiting her grandmother Odette, Declan’s friendly Cajun neighbor. Declan is as certain that Lena is destined to be his wife as he was that Manet Hall would become his home. But, surprise, Lena has a troubled past (like the house) and is determined to resist Declan’s courtship. While he suits Lena and works on the place, Declan experiences troubling dreams. It seems he’s actually reliving the novel’s parallel story, which took place in 1899. In that year, the maid, Abbey Manet (from whom Lena, coincidentally, is descended, and who married wealthy Lucian Manet), was raped and murdered by her brother-in-law Julian as she nursed her baby daughter. Her body was dumped into the bayou by her mother-in-law, who despised her. And grief-stricken husband Lucian, away at the time, being told that Abbey had run off, committed suicide. Now, in an unconvincing twist of gender and reincarnation, it’s Declan who hears a baby crying , experiences childbirth and rape as the reincarnation of Abbey, while Lena is Lucian. The two accept all this with equanimity, and, Manet Hall’s secrets revealed, it becomes the setting for predictable and much foreshadowed resolutions.
Agreeably credible lovers and a neat piece of home-restoration compensate some for the hokey hauntings on the bayou. Loyal fans will enjoy.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-399-14824-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2001
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