Steel (Johnny Angel, p. 556) softens her style in this quiet, poignant romance, generally avoiding the glitzy excesses and...
Second-chance romance in a windswept beach town.
Ophélie, the French-born wife of an American physicist and inventor, struggles with depression after her husband and son die in a plane crash. Not that the marriage was perfect—far from it. Ted was a moody genius who did his damnedest to ignore 15-year-old Chad’s emotional problems and Ophélie’s timid complaints. At least she still has Philippa, her 11 year-old daughter, known as Pip, to console her, and group therapy to help her through what’s referred to delicately as “the grieving process” (yes, this is in California). When Pip, ignored in turn by her airhead babysitter, wanders the beach alone and meets an artist, Ophélie is frightened and comes to sudden life, fiercely scolding the man, who insists he meant no harm. Matt Bowles remembers his own daughter at that age, though his children are grown. He lost touch with them after a bitter divorce and his wife’s relocation to New Zealand. A likely story, thinks Ophélie, who is nonetheless drawn to the attractive painter. A relationship blossoms as they share life stories and walks on the beach with the family retriever and happy Pip. Ophélie is surprised to find joy again—but her best friend Andrea could have told her that. Andrea, a free spirit who loved and left many men, has finally settled down at 44, a blissful single mother to baby William, fathered by artificial insemination and an anonymous donor—these days, who cares? Not Ophélie, who dotes on the adorable tot. Eager to do something for others, she volunteers for a homeless outreach program and serves these lost souls with bravery and compassion. But a bitter betrayal awaits her, as the truth of little William’s parentage is revealed.
Steel (Johnny Angel, p. 556) softens her style in this quiet, poignant romance, generally avoiding the glitzy excesses and silly contrivances of some previous titles. Easy to read, easy to like.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2003
ISBN: 0-385-33630-6
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2003
An entertaining, affecting romance.
A downtrodden nanny sends off a quick note of appreciation to a soldier; when it lands on a major’s desk, it sparks an unexpected romance, but things get complicated once he's back on U.S. soil.
Sara Ryan needs a change. She loves her niece, Kaylee, but being the girl's nanny for the past three years has made it too easy for her brother and sister-in-law to duck their parenting responsibilities while taking advantage of her time and kindness. Sara's widowed mother depends on her, too, and now that Sara has spent years taking care of her family, they've become dependent and entitled while continually chipping away at her self-esteem. Then, when she hears a radio story about sending letters to troops serving abroad, Maj. Gabriel Randall comes into her life. He responds to her letter with an email, which leads to texts, FaceTime, and a full-blown emotional affair—and finally an airline ticket to Alaska for Sara to spend time with Gabriel at the end of his deployment. But Sara has confided to no one but a cousin about the correspondence, and as the day she’s supposed to leave for Alaska grows closer, she continues to keep her silence, creating confusion and turmoil when events force her to face her choices head-on. James (a new pen name for established author Sydney Landon) takes on a kind of mashup of “Cinderella” and soldier pen-pal fantasy, in a sweet, touching way. It is frustrating how reactive Sara is until the very end—even understanding that that’s supposed to be her growth arc—and how everyone else solves her problems, but the ultimate meshing of two lonely souls through a seemingly fated letter makes for a tender, satisfying love story overall.
An entertaining, affecting romance.Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0695-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Jove/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
A satisfying treat, with extra scoops of excitement and romance that make up for certain lapses in credibility.
Once-in-a-lifetime romantic passion and graphically depicted torture sessions are only the two extremes of this lively time-travel romance set in 18th-century Scotland—an imaginative and lighthearted debut by a promising newcomer.
World War II has finally ended and Claire Beauchamp Randall, a British Red Cross nurse, has gone off to Scotland with her historian husband, Frank, to try to resume their married life where it left off six years before. Their diligent attempts to make a baby come to a halt, however, when Claire discovers an ancient stone circle on a nearby hilltop, slips between two mysterious-looking boulders, and is transported willy-nilly to the year 1743. Stumbling down the hillside, disoriented and confused, Claire is discovered by Jonathan "Black Jack" Randall, an evil English officer who happens to be her husband's direct ancestor and physical look-alike. Randall notes Claire's revealing 1940's summer dress, assumes she is a whore, and attempts to rape her, whereupon she is rescued by the fierce MacKenzie clan, who take her to their castle and confine her there. Claire adjusts to her changed circumstances with amazing ease, using her nursing experience to tend to her hosts' illnesses while she impatiently awaits a chance to return to the circle of stones. Before she can get away, circumstances force her into a marriage with James Frazer, a Scottish renegade from English justice and Jonathan Randall's archenemy. Young Jamie's good looks, passion, and virility soon redirect Claire's energies to defending her stalwart new husband against her former mate's evil clone, and the fierce, courageous but historically doomed Scottish clans against the course of destiny itself.
A satisfying treat, with extra scoops of excitement and romance that make up for certain lapses in credibility.Pub Date: July 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-385-30230-4
Page Count: 640
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1991
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