Similar to a fast-food meal, the book won’t meet daily nutritional requirements and just might leave you with a bellyache.
A San Francisco earthquake shakes up the lives of three women in the latest from Steel (Bungalow 2, 2007, etc.).
A nun, a rock ingénue and a socialite collide on the night of a disastrous earthquake—and, no, it’s not the start of a joke. Sarah, a perfectly groomed yummy-mummy, is the volunteer in charge of the Littlest Angels Ball, a large fund-raising black-tie event for a local hospital. Melanie is the hired talent for the night, a teenage rock star who’s fed up with being pushed around by her domineering mother/agent. Finally there’s Maggie, the spunky redheaded nun with a heart of gold that tends to San Francisco’s homeless and only scored a ticket to the swank event thanks to a generous friend. When the quake strikes (and it’s a doozy), the carefully constructed lives of the three ladies crumble like a deck of cards. Sarah’s husband is exposed as a fraud when the quake’s resulting power outage keeps him from hiding his illegal financial maneuvers. His misdeeds cost the family dearly and Sarah has to come to terms with just how much loyalty she owes the man she once adored. Thanks to the resulting chaos of the natural disaster, Melanie gets the chance to escape her mother’s watchful eye and act like a normal college-age kid. She volunteers at the victims’ shelter, eats junk food and makes non-industry friends. The change of venue does the pop princess good: it seems Melanie is well on the way to independence. Maggie’s future is more uncertain. While working with the injured and frightened, Maggie crosses paths with a handsome photographer. The seemingly mismatched pair fall in love and must decide if they want to place their bets on a future together. The characters are paper-thin (Maggie is especially laughable and scantily developed) and the plot manufactured.
Similar to a fast-food meal, the book won’t meet daily nutritional requirements and just might leave you with a bellyache.Pub Date: Oct. 30, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-385-34023-6
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2007
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
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
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