Often silly and hastily concluded tale of love vs. duty.
Lonely European princess finds purpose and romance when she volunteers for a humanitarian organization in East Africa.
With the weight of an entire kingdom—Liechtenstein, to be exact—on her slender shoulders, her Serene Highness Christianna knows that her life will never be her own. Even though women are forbidden to rule the tiny principality, her profligate older brother and royal heir Freddy shows so little interest in his responsibilities that her widower father, Prince Hans Josef, looks to her to fulfill obligations. Resigned to a life of endless state dinners and hospital tours, the 23-year-old Berkeley grad’s life takes an unexpected turn after she watches children die on TV in a bloody Russian terrorist standoff. Galvanized into action, and with two strapping bodyguards in tow, she meets up with the Red Cross in Russia and does what she can to ease suffering, finding the experience far more meaningful than anything else she has done. Back at her Vaduz palace, her father agrees to let her again join the organization to assist with a hospital project in Eritrea, with the understanding that once the year is up she will devote all her time to her royal duties. In Africa, she hides her identity and passionately throws herself into the work, bonding with her multicultural colleagues who know her only as “Cricky.” She also meets a handsome, young American doctor, Parker Williams, who is himself quickly smitten by the compassionate young woman in braids and boots. Their love blossoms in spite of Christianna’s constant awareness that she could never marry a commoner, dooming their relationship. The heartbroken lovers part when Parker has to return to his AIDS research work at Harvard. The princess leaves soon after when the camp comes under threat during a local war. But it will take more than an ocean—and generations of tradition—to keep these two crazy kids from their happy ending. Steele (Coming Out, June 2006, etc.) should get her due for the political hot-spots angle, but saintlier-than-thou sweethearts Parker and Christianna make for a particularly insipid duo.
Often silly and hastily concluded tale of love vs. duty.Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2006
ISBN: 0-385-33829-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2006
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
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable...
An unlucky woman finally gets lucky in love on an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii.
From getting her hand stuck in a claw machine at age 6 to losing her job, Olive Torres has never felt that luck was on her side. But her fortune changes when she scores a free vacation after her identical twin sister and new brother-in-law get food poisoning at their wedding buffet and are too sick to go on their honeymoon. The only catch is that she’ll have to share the honeymoon suite with her least favorite person—Ethan Thomas, the brother of the groom. To make matters worse, Olive’s new boss and Ethan’s ex-girlfriend show up in Hawaii, forcing them both to pretend to be newlyweds so they don’t blow their cover, as their all-inclusive vacation package is nontransferable and in her sister’s name. Plus, Ethan really wants to save face in front of his ex. The story is told almost exclusively from Olive’s point of view, filtering all communication through her cynical lens until Ethan can win her over (and finally have his say in the epilogue). To get to the happily-ever-after, Ethan doesn’t have to prove to Olive that he can be a better man, only that he was never the jerk she thought he was—for instance, when she thought he was judging her for eating cheese curds, maybe he was actually thinking of asking her out. Blending witty banter with healthy adult communication, the fake newlyweds have real chemistry as they talk it out over snorkeling trips, couples massages, and a few too many tropical drinks to get to the truth—that they’re crazy about each other.
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable as well as free.Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2803-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
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