There’s never much doubt where all this is heading. But romancer Harrod-Eagles, who also writes Inspector Bill Slider’s...
An unexpected legacy rescues a London PR executive from her dreary round of romantic mishaps and sends her off to Exmoor, where mold, mildew and true love await.
Kate Jennings’ grandmother sees no reason why she should wait till she’s dead to provide for her five granddaughters. So she sends them each £125,000 and invites them to do whatever they like with it. Instead of treating herself to a world cruise as therapy for the unsuitable men on whom she’s wasted three of her prime years, Kate decides to purchase Little’s Cottage in Bursford, not far from where her builder father grew up, and take a six-month leave of absence from her job. The place needs work, but she has the skills and the time for the “Cinderella Project” of restoration. After all, it’s not as if she’s going to be spending the rest of her life in Exmoor, she reflects, as God and the gentle reader laugh. Soon enough, Kate meets unsought complications. She babysits Dommie and Hayley, the children of her neighbors Kay and Darren Tonkin, in return for laundry services. Lady Camilla Blackmore, widow of the local gentry, latches onto her and takes her into her circle. Camilla’s younger son, Jack, courts Kate, or at least flirts madly with her, just as he’s done with everyone in skirts ever since his divorce. His older brother Edward, a Byronic type who turns Kate’s knees weak, smolders and glowers. House parties are organized; a point-to-point horse race, as well. Beautiful Addison Bruckmeyer, Ed’s poisonous London attorney, sweeps into Blackmore Hall with her heart, if she has one, clearly set on marrying the heir. Someone leaves anonymous notes warning Kate to sell the cottage and leave.
There’s never much doubt where all this is heading. But romancer Harrod-Eagles, who also writes Inspector Bill Slider’s whodunits (Blood Never Dies, 2013, etc.), updates Jane Austen so gently and firmly that fans will lap it up.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7278-8309-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Severn House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2013
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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