Another of Rae's light chillers (The Hidden Cove, 1995, etc.) set in a turn-of-the-century Manhattan of gilded turrets and grimy tenements: a tale of both staid and messy romances featuring ladies naughty and nice—and a doomed man with a sad secret. In 1892, it seemed to 17-year-old Caroline that everyone was moving uptown, and so when Papa became rich, the Slade family of two boys and two girls followed the migration, moving into a grand mansion in the East 60s. What Caroline won't know, however, until after the accidental deaths, in that same year, of her parents and a brother, is that the neighboring twin mansion—where she had made the acquaintance of elderly Henrietta Prentice—harbors secrets that eerily connect it to the Slade family. Now, Caroline, beautiful social butterfly Laurel, and brother Brad find themselves penniless as well as orphaned. It is Miss Prentice who insists Caroline and Brad live temporarily in her home, while Laurel is off on a hopeful whirl among the wealthy. With Miss Prentice is her great-nephew Leland, a seemingly pleasant, attractive novelist. But why does Miss Prentice tell Caroline he must never marry? What explains his abrupt changes of moods, and his sudden departures both from Manhattan and from Miss Prentice's home in Newport? Brad and Caroline eventually settle happily into careers and marriages, but Laurel, now a social outcast, thanks to vicious rumors, sees a haven in wealthy Leland—with disastrous results. Before the (inevitable) cleansing fire, there are flights and terrors, and, at the close, revelations concerning Leland's deadly malaise. The author is a sure hand with gothic tremors (``Terror such as I had never known gripped me'') and the taboos of the Gilded Age, though some may be bothered by the depiction of Leland's illness. Still, Rae is as firmly in her Manhattan-past niche as Stephen Birmingham.
Pub Date: Nov. 13, 1997
ISBN: 0-312-17039-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1997
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
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
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