A contemporary romantic soufflÇ: boy meets girl, girl already has fiancÇ, girl dumps fiancÇ, boy dumps girl. Bartolomeo’s witty debut novel embraces the pitfalls and pratfalls of modern romance as they assail Diana Campanella, who’s never wanted anything but some peace and quiet. Which is what she thought she had with Philip, a high-powered D.C. attorney with Mayflower roots. Their three-year engagement, however, has turned into the monotony of married life, without even the redeeming fun of a wedding and honeymoon to look back on. To compound the depressing effect of Diana’s relationship, her beloved vintage clothing boutique seems to be failing; it’s likely she—ll soon have to go back to her Washington desk job promoting the benefits of nuclear energy. And then into her life walks Harry Sandburg, handsome, charming, basically soulmate material. A friend of her sister Cynthia’s (an infamous New York lingerie model involved with a married soap opera star), Harry has just relocated to D.C. after a messy separation from his wife. He proceeds to sweep Diana off her feet just as Philip is ready for the big commitment’setting a date for the wedding. Two-timing Philip isn—t easy for good Catholic girl Diana, but on the wings of Harry’s love comes further good fortune—with Cynthia’s help, her shop is becoming the toast of the town. Then, just as Diana’s life seems to be fitting together—Harry’s passion, the shop’s success, Philip finally dumped—Harry goes back to New York to reconcile with his wife. Will a repentant Diana marry Philip? Will she fight for Harry? Will she stop bickering with her crotchety Italian pop? Can a girl find happiness in the backwaters of Washington? Chances are that she can, and the finale has our heroine looking fine in the arms of true love. Amusing, but so light that if you breathe on the page, the words will fly right off.
Pub Date: May 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-684-83977-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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
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