Another knockout by Lauren.
Lauren's (Dating You, Hating You, 2017, etc.) latest romantic comedy features a marriage of convenience between an up-and-coming Broadway star and a woman desperately trying to find her place in the world.
Holland Bakker isn’t expecting to get married anytime soon, but when she's rescued from a drunk who attacks her on a subway platform by an Irish busker, the situation changes. Her knight in shining armor is Calvin McLoughlin, and Holland has had a major crush on him for ages, even memorizing his performing schedule in her local station. To thank him for his gallant behavior, she offers to get him an audition for her uncle's wildly successful Broadway musical. The audition goes better than expected, and Calvin is offered a spot, but there’s just one problem: his visa has expired. Impulsively, Holland offers to marry Calvin so he can stay in the U.S., saying the two of them will simply be roommates. It will be a marriage on paper but nothing else. While the setup requires some suspension of disbelief, Lauren makes Holland and Calvin relatable and, most importantly, believable. Holland is the standout character, so used to filling roles for other people—niece, confidant, errand girl—that she has no concept of who she is for herself. While Holland’s journey is integral to the lovely, heart-melting romance, her point of view is the only one readers receive, making Calvin’s presence slightly less dynamic than it could have been. However, that's a minor quibble given that this book has everything that makes romance novels great: a heroine’s journey to self-discovery, a leading man worthy of a woman’s love, and plenty of misty tears and full-on belly laughs along the way.
Another knockout by Lauren.Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5011-6583-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Popular, prolific Roberts (The Search, 2010, etc.) delivers hair-raising smoke-jumping sequences along with the obligatory...
A smoke jumper who puts her life on the line every fire season has more to fear this year than fire.
A member of the Missoula smoke jumpers since she was 18, Rowan Tripp is tough and gorgeous, proud to be a member of a close-knit team that fights fires all over the West. But last year her partner was killed in a bad jump, and now his girlfriend Dolly is blaming his death on Ro. When Dolly sprays Ro’s room with pig’s blood, she’s fired from her cooking job on the base, stepping up their enmity. Although Ro takes comfort from her new relationship with rookie Gulliver Curry, an erudite Californian with a penchant for firefighting, she’s shocked to find Dolly’s charred body at a fire scene. Dolly’s latest lover is the next body found. Just to make matters more personal, someone (Dolly’s father?) takes a shot at Ro and Gull. The fiercely independent Ro is surprised at the trouble she’s having in adjusting to a relationship that is about more than sex and dealing with the fact that her legendary father has suddenly fallen for a smart, sexy grandmother. When they realize that someone’s putting the team in jeopardy by sabotaging equipment, Ro and Gull resolve to catch the killer.
Popular, prolific Roberts (The Search, 2010, etc.) delivers hair-raising smoke-jumping sequences along with the obligatory thrills, sex and a mystery even the greenest armchair sleuths will be able to solve.Pub Date: April 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-15744-8
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
Kinsella’s many fans will devour this warm and hilarious read.
An IOU from a cute stranger gets complicated in this fun story about family, loyalty, and taking charge of your own life.
Fixie Farr, as her nickname suggests, has always loved to fix things. Most of her fixing is confined to her family's West London store, Farr’s, which she's run with her mother since her father’s death. Her siblings, Jake and Nicole, are mostly useless, and Fixie knows it’s up to her to protect her dad’s legacy. When she’s at a coffee shop one day, a man asks her to watch his laptop. While he’s away, the ceiling above his table caves in, and Fixie can’t stop herself from leaping into danger to save the computer. Shocked by her willingness to save the day at the risk of her own safety, the laptop’s owner, Seb, promises her a favor and writes an IOU on a coffee sleeve. Fixie never intends to cash in the favor—after all, she doesn’t know Seb at all, and she’s perfectly capable of handling everything herself—until the love of her life, Ryan, needs a job. Ryan was Jake’s best friend growing up, and Fixie’s had an enormous crush on him her whole life, even after he moved to LA to become a movie producer. But now he’s back in London, and she wants him to stay…so she musters up the courage to contact Seb and redeem the IOU for a job for Ryan. However, it turns out that she and Seb aren’t quite done with each other, and they keep finding more opportunities to owe each other favors. As Fixie tries to work out her feelings for Seb, assert herself to her siblings, and save her family’s store, will she finally be able to stop fixing other people’s lives and start focusing on her own? Kinsella (Surprise Me, 2018, etc.) creates a charming story full of quirky characters and laugh-out-loud dialogue. Fixie is a likable character, one readers will root for as she learns to take control of her own life.
Kinsella’s many fans will devour this warm and hilarious read.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-9901-4
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Dial Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 25, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2018
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