The story begins and ends with a swoon, but the headstrong heroine endures too much in between.
Wanted for her money, a woman holds out for love in the third book in the Spinster Heiresses series (A Match Made in Bed, 2018, etc.).
Matthew Addison is a duke without an inheritance. His family fortune has been steadily dwindling ever since a blackmailer discovered a shocking family secret. Willa Reverly is an heiress without a title, and after three unsuccessful seasons, she’s in danger of remaining a spinster. Their pending marriage will be a love match, if what they love is money. But after reading a book of poems Matt wrote for his estranged mistress, Willa decides she will settle for nothing less than the feelings that inspired him to write such tender words. She jilts Matt the day before their wedding, forcing him to try to win her heart for real. Though Matt is reluctant to fall in love again, he can’t deny his attraction to Willa and rises quickly to the challenge, and they reschedule their nuptials. But after a disastrous wedding night, he has an even harder time earning her trust—and when the blackmailer returns, he might lose her for good. The historical details are thought-provoking: In the Regency-era setting, the couple doesn’t expect to marry for love, and an affair is only shocking when the lovers are of the same sex, a topic that’s handled with care. But the topic of consent is treated unevenly. At first, Matt, who towers over his tiny bride, takes his time to make her comfortable. But when she asks him to stop, he doesn’t. Then he denies his humiliated bride her privacy, even to take a bath and use the chamber pot. When he takes a step back and proves he can control his urges, their love blossoms to great effect. But although Willa changes her mind about him, readers might not.
The story begins and ends with a swoon, but the headstrong heroine endures too much in between.Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-265578-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2018
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
To her usual mix of love, mystery, and passion, Roberts (Sanctuary, 1997, etc.)—author of 115 romancers in some 17 years—adds Renaissance art and a decidedly Medici-like family: the Joneses of Maine. Dr. Miranda Jones, nearly six feet with flaming red hair and a glacial reserve, is an archeometrist who specializes in the analyzing and dating of Renaissance bronze sculpture. Miranda hopes to secure a world-class reputation for herself by authenticating a 15th-century statue of the Dark Lady, one of the mistresses of Lorenzo the Magnificent, as the undiscovered work of a young Michelangelo. Miranda's mother, Dr. Elizabeth Standford-Jones, the emotionally remote director of the Standjo art lab in Florence, has summoned her daughter from the family's Victorian cliffside home in Jones Point, Maine, to test the statue. Meanwhile, Miranda's father, equally remote, is an archaeologist who spends more time at his digs than at home. In fact, no one in the Jones family has made a successful run at marriage, a failure that Miranda and her alcoholic brother Andrew call the Jones curse. As for the statue, when it's discovered to be a fake, Miranda sets out to prove that someone stole the original. In this she's helped by gorgeous art thief Ryan Boldari (half-Italian, half-Irish), who's come to Jones Point to steal yet another bronze, which also turns out to be a forgery. Ryan's plan had been to use Miranda as a pawn, but now, naturally, he finds himself falling hard for her. While the two search for bronzes, a standard-issue romance-novel psychotic is stalking them. Most readers will twig to the killer's identity: Here, as always, Roberts's sexual tension is more compelling than her suspense. Perhaps it's time to take a sabbatical from the pink sweatshop and turn her considerable wit and narrative skills to a more original piece of work.
Pub Date: March 23, 1998
ISBN: 0-399-14387-4
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1998
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