By-the-numbers romance, with pop psychology overtones.
Three die-hard bachelors with issues meet their matches in the publishing titan’s latest fairy tale, her third this year (Miracle, June 2005, etc.).
Longtime friends Charlie, Adam and Gray have only the vaguest notions that their single-by-choice lifestyle might not be as great as it seems. To be fair, any misgivings seem tiny in comparison to the splendor of blueblood Charlie’s yacht, where the guys have assembled for their annual August Mediterranean jaunt. They drink, dance and flirt their way through charmed locations, secure in the knowledge that even if they end up alone, they still have each other. These free agents are not really unrepentant cads, though, so much as neurotic New Yorkers, and facing their commitment phobias is what propels the love stories forward. Charlie is a rich philanthropist who claims to want marriage but cannot stop fixating on the “fatal flaw” he discovers in each new girlfriend. Adam is a bitter, divorced entertainment lawyer who limits himself to short affairs with gold-digging 20-year-old bimbos, and sensitive painter Gray is a psycho-chick magnet repeatedly drawn to—and dumped by—damaged women he hopes to save. It is during a stop in Portofino that Gray meets Sylvia, a warm, successful (and resolutely sane) gallery owner, signaling a possible end to the happy brotherhood. Back in New York, Charlie befriends Carole, a self-righteous social worker uncomfortable with his vast wealth. Hedonistic Adam gets his life turned upside down by a sweet waitress with a secret life whom he meets at a client’s rock concert. Their various relationships take different routes, but all arrive at the same destination. It is love, sweet love, that changes these big ’ol scaredy cats into happy husbands. Steel’s massive fan base is unlikely to quibble, but the author displays a stunning tendency to repeat a point four or more times when once would have been sufficient.
By-the-numbers romance, with pop psychology overtones.Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2005
ISBN: 0-385-33827-9
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2005
A fun and fast-moving read, and better edited than many of Laurens’ past efforts. Highly recommended.
A straight-laced Glasgow businessman is drawn back into clan politics and a romance with a woman from a neighboring estate.
Laurens (By Winter’s Light, 2014, etc.) returns to her popular Cynster series with this romantic mystery set in mid-19th-century Scotland. Thomas Carrick is looking for “the right sort of wife for a gentleman of the type he intended to become—a pillar of the wealthy business community.” But a plea for help from farmers on his uncle’s estate causes him to abandon Glasgow suddenly. His wastrel cousins are taking advantage of their father the laird’s lingering illness to plunder the clan’s coffers. Thomas is determined to set things right, even though it means encountering the witchy woman on the next estate, Lucilla Cynster, who has held him in thrall for many years. Lucilla, on the other hand, has been waiting for Thomas to figure out that a marriage between them has been preordained by the Lady, a local deity embodied by Lucilla’s mother. She believes Thomas is her consort, chosen by the Lady to be the future caretaker of Lucilla and her people. Together, they work to solve the mystery of recent foul deeds on Carrick land and have fabulous sex around the edges. The book falls prey to the annoying tics common in Laurens’ prose (can you really sigh inwardly, catch your mental breath, mentally blink or rock back on your mental heels?) but is a fairly successful example of cross-genre experiments in which classic mystery and historical romance and even fantasy tropes are combined. The solution to the mystery is wonderfully unpredictable, and both Thomas and Lucilla are flawed and likable characters.
A fun and fast-moving read, and better edited than many of Laurens’ past efforts. Highly recommended.Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7783-1782-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Another brilliant odyssey from Bouchet.
Tess Bailey and her crew agree to a rescue mission which is practically suicidal, but as they prepare, she discovers deep secrets about her past that may give her and her rebel allies more leverage in their battle for freedom from the Galactic Overseer, though at great cost.
Nightchaser Tess Bailey, her ship, Endeavor, and her rebel crew—which now includes her lover, Shade Ganavan, until recently a Dark Watch bounty hunter—have been given the task of freeing Reena Ahern, a scientist who could save Demeter Terre, a planet that was poisoned by the Galactic Overseer when it stood up to him, killing 90% of its population. Unfortunately, Reena is imprisoned on Starbase 12, “the most secure place in the known universe.” First, though, Tess and Shade have a meeting with her uncle, Nathaniel Bridgebane, second-in-command to the Overseer, during which Tess realizes her uncle is likely an ally. They also meet his lieutenant, Sanaa Mwende, who joins their crew and helps Tess get a clearer picture of the dangerous game her uncle has played all these years. As the crew prepares for their rescue mission, Tess' first love reappears; then the crew agrees to a smaller job liberating some food supplies during a Dark Watch personnel switch and wind up rescuing hundreds of people the Overseer captured for their superblood—which, like Tess', is impervious to disease and heals extremely quickly. The stakes rise as people across the galaxy are about to be tagged and tracked, all in order to find the blood that will be used to create an army of supersoldiers, annihilating any possible rebellion. Help for their mission also leads to more secrets regarding Tess’ past being revealed, setting up more hope and more danger for the next book in the series. The Nightchaser space opera continues with tons of action, romance, pathos, and fascinating worldbuilding.
Another brilliant odyssey from Bouchet.Pub Date: April 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4926-6716-2
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
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