Pure fun and pure fluff—the perfect book to read on the beach with a glass of prosecco in hand.
A lighthearted romance packed with glitz, glamour, and celebrities.
Charlotte Young, a bold, plucky American woman working in public relations in New York City, has planned a reunion ski trip to Chamonix, France, with four of her best friends from her time at Oxford University. The girls are already excited about their getaway, but the trip gets even more thrilling when they learn that Des Bannerman, a dreamy, British romantic-comedy movie star, is in town, too. Charlotte has long considered him to be her celebrity crush, so she becomes determined to meet him. Luckily, she runs into him at a local casino’s blackjack tables; they eventually share a few fun, flirtatious moments (and even a kiss). However, things go awry when the paparazzi snap a photo of the duo and Des’ girlfriend, Brynn Roberts, sees it. She’s not happy, and she lets Charlotte know it. Suddenly, photographers are following Charlotte everywhere; then, out of the blue, she’s served with a restraining order from Des, requiring her to keep her distance. Hurt and confused, she returns home to New York, where her boss, Faith Clarkson, is determined to make the most of her employee’s brief foray into the limelight. She assigns Charlotte one vital task: to figure out a way to sign Des as a client of the PR firm. Now she must plot how to get around her restraining order (and her hurt feelings) while making new friends, taking a new lover, and having countless glamorous adventures along the way. Kennedy’s (Cognac & Couture, 2016, etc.) book is pure lighthearted fun—the kind of story that one can imagine as a glossy rom-com film. It’s packed with entertaining, vivid descriptions of some of the world’s most luxurious destinations, including the aforementioned Chamonix and Manhattan; Long Island’s East Hampton; London; Saint-Tropez, France; and Rome. It’s also filled with steamy, if gratuitous, sex scenes between Charlotte and her lover, Liam, a “gorgeous Irishman.” Although there’s no real lesson or message to be gleaned from this novel’s light plot, it’s escapism at its best.
Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-692-71076-0
Page Count: 282
Publisher: Girl Parts Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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