Though Kelly is a skilled writer, the excess of storylines weighs heavy on the novel.
Planning for a wedding causes loss and regrets to bubble up to the surface in Kelly’s (The House on Willow Street, 2013, etc.) new novel.
After Michael and Katy announce their engagement, they joke about the magnitude of their upcoming big event, announcing, “This wedding will make all lives better.” While this kind of lofty sentiment could come across as ridiculous if uttered by anyone else, from the charming and lovable Michael and Katy, it serves as a blessing for those around them. Katy’s best friend, Leila, is coping with the end of her own brief marriage as well as juggling the responsibilities of her job, her mother’s care, and her rocky relationship with her sister. Michael’s parents, Grace and Stephen, are divorced but amicable. Grace’s job as a school headmistress is often challenging, especially when it comes to struggling students such as Ruby Morrison. Ruby’s mother, Jennifer, has been impossible to live with since her marriage broke up a few years earlier. Her rage is all-encompassing, though the brunt of her anger is directed toward her ex-husband, Ryan, and his new girlfriend, Vonnie. Though Jennifer would love to believe Vonnie is a vapid temptress, she’s actually a young widow who moved with her son to Ireland from the United States in an attempt to find closure. A large part of Vonnie’s new life involves her bakery, Golden Vanilla Cake Shop, where she specializes in elaborate wedding cakes. Each character in this expansive cast is well-developed, but the novel is overcrowded with their voices. While all are somehow related to the upcoming nuptials of Michael and Katy, outside the circle of family and friends the connections become tenuous, and these vivid characters are done a disservice by being crammed into a novel that is barely theirs.
Though Kelly is a skilled writer, the excess of storylines weighs heavy on the novel.Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4555-3540-8
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
Still, a respectful and absorbing page-turner.
Hannah’s new novel is an homage to the extraordinary courage and endurance of Frenchwomen during World War II.
In 1995, an elderly unnamed widow is moving into an Oregon nursing home on the urging of her controlling son, Julien, a surgeon. This trajectory is interrupted when she receives an invitation to return to France to attend a ceremony honoring passeurs: people who aided the escape of others during the war. Cut to spring, 1940: Viann has said goodbye to husband Antoine, who's off to hold the Maginot line against invading Germans. She returns to tending her small farm, Le Jardin, in the Loire Valley, teaching at the local school and coping with daughter Sophie’s adolescent rebellion. Soon, that world is upended: The Germans march into Paris and refugees flee south, overrunning Viann’s land. Her long-estranged younger sister, Isabelle, who has been kicked out of multiple convent schools, is sent to Le Jardin by Julien, their father in Paris, a drunken, decidedly unpaternal Great War veteran. As the depredations increase in the occupied zone—food rationing, systematic looting, and the billeting of a German officer, Capt. Beck, at Le Jardin—Isabelle’s outspokenness is a liability. She joins the Resistance, volunteering for dangerous duty: shepherding downed Allied airmen across the Pyrenees to Spain. Code-named the Nightingale, Isabelle will rescue many before she's captured. Meanwhile, Viann’s journey from passive to active resistance is less dramatic but no less wrenching. Hannah vividly demonstrates how the Nazis, through starvation, intimidation and barbarity both casual and calculated, demoralized the French, engineering a community collapse that enabled the deportations and deaths of more than 70,000 Jews. Hannah’s proven storytelling skills are ideally suited to depicting such cataclysmic events, but her tendency to sentimentalize undermines the gravitas of this tale.
Still, a respectful and absorbing page-turner.Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-312-57722-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 19, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
The emotions run high, the conversations run deep, and the relationships ebb and flow with grace.
When tragedy strikes, a mother and daughter forge a new life.
Morgan felt obligated to marry her high school sweetheart, Chris, when she got pregnant with their daughter, Clara. But she secretly got along much better with Chris’ thoughtful best friend, Jonah, who was dating her sister, Jenny. Now her life as a stay-at-home parent has left her feeling empty but not ungrateful for what she has. Jonah and Jenny eventually broke up, but years later they had a one-night stand and Jenny got pregnant with their son, Elijah. Now Jonah is back in town, engaged to Jenny, and working at the local high school as Clara’s teacher. Clara dreams of being an actress and has a crush on Miller, who plans to go to film school, but her father doesn't approve. It doesn’t help that Miller already has a jealous girlfriend who stalks him via text from college. But Clara and Morgan’s home life changes radically when Chris and Jenny are killed in an accident, revealing long-buried secrets and forcing Morgan to reevaluate the life she chose when early motherhood forced her hand. Feeling betrayed by the adults in her life, Clara marches forward, acting both responsible and rebellious as she navigates her teenage years without her father and her aunt, while Jonah and Morgan's relationship evolves in the wake of the accident. Front-loaded with drama, the story leaves plenty of room for the mother and daughter to unpack their feelings and decide what’s next.
The emotions run high, the conversations run deep, and the relationships ebb and flow with grace.Pub Date: Dec. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5420-1642-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
