Fanciful, overreaching love story featuring a saintly hero, autism and other family issues.
Smitten at first sight, Michael pursues Ann, who has an autistic child and abusive ex-husband, in this debut romance novel.
Thirty-two-year-old Ann lives not far from the Canadian border. Her life has been challenging—twice divorced, with a child from each union. Brie, 15, is wise and helpful beyond her years; 2-year-old Jenna is autistic and suffers from seizures. Ann, a night nurse and Air Force reservist, has a court order blocking Jenna’s father from visiting his child, given his violent tendencies, but she’s fearful of his return. When a friend convinces her to go out for a night of club hopping, Ann meets Michael, a 40-something Englishman, now living in Canada, who is also twice divorced. She’s struck by his lack of bitterness about his marriages, and he’s taken with her. Despite Ann’s tepid encouragement, Michael tracks down her number, initiates marathon phone conversations and finally gets her to go out with him, declaring that he intends to marry her. Most miraculous of all, Jenna instantly likes him. Ann and Michael continue to introduce each other to their families, including his adult children, recently arrived in Canada to get to know him better. Given the demands of their lives, the couple can’t find the time to have sex. They consummate their relationship only after Ann’s ex reappears and they pass through immigration and other hurdles. First-time author James, who has worked as a nurse, provides a realistic, cleareyed view of caring for an autistic child, the strongest, most compelling part of her story. Overall, however, the narrative has its challenges, particularly in the believability of Michael’s angelic willingness to shoulder Ann’s burdens—and delay sexual gratification. The subplots involving immigration and the ex-husband, as well as the couple’s somewhat complex individual back stories, get short shrift compared with some rather repetitive sequences that demonstrate Michael’s good-guy status. Still, those seeking a mature female fantasy may appreciate this novel.
Fanciful, overreaching love story featuring a saintly hero, autism and other family issues.Pub Date: March 17, 2014
ISBN: 978-1458213785
Page Count: 320
Publisher: AbbottPress
Review Posted Online: Sept. 4, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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