If readers can look past the occasionally inauthentic moment, they’ll be treated to an entertaining yarn.
Romance, betrayal, ghosts and history mingle in this fast-paced thriller about a young woman coming to terms with a broken heart.
Riley married Tristan on a passionate whim at the tender age of 20. Two years later she fled him and their home, Wolfe Haven, out of a volatile mix of rage and shame. Now, three years older and wiser, she’s returned to find out whether or not she still loves him. Tristan, however, is seeing another woman—one he thinks can save the family from financial ruin—and is not happy to see his estranged wife. To complicate matters, Tristan’s brother Colin, whom Riley had flirted with when she was still living at Wolfe Haven, seems intent on making Riley as uncomfortable as possible, despite the fact his girlfriend Zoe is staying at the house. If romantic intrigue isn’t enough, there’s also a possibly murdered caretaker, a suspicious hit-and-run accident and strange whispers in Riley’s ear. Riley finds herself caught in a dangerous maze of secrets and deceptions as she tries to figure out who wants to sabotage Tristan’s work with alternative motor vehicles and how to win him back. The writing is upbeat and lively, and Heaton proves talented at keeping complicated plot lines clear and focused. Readers who enjoy romance novels touched with a hint of the macabre will find much to admire here. However, Heaton tends to hatch barely believable coincidences for the sake of her story, and characters sometimes shift in their roles to accommodate the many twists and turns. For instance, Abby, the current mistress of Wolfe Haven, transforms from collected matriarch to crazy woman forcefully reading auras too quickly to be swallowed. Likewise, Riley and Tristan’s escapade in the woods immediately after a car crash intense enough to result in a death feels a bit forced.
If readers can look past the occasionally inauthentic moment, they’ll be treated to an entertaining yarn.Pub Date: July 13, 2010
ISBN: 978-1450238076
Page Count: 221
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: Oct. 6, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
To her usual mix of love, mystery, and passion, Roberts (Sanctuary, 1997, etc.)—author of 115 romancers in some 17 years—adds Renaissance art and a decidedly Medici-like family: the Joneses of Maine. Dr. Miranda Jones, nearly six feet with flaming red hair and a glacial reserve, is an archeometrist who specializes in the analyzing and dating of Renaissance bronze sculpture. Miranda hopes to secure a world-class reputation for herself by authenticating a 15th-century statue of the Dark Lady, one of the mistresses of Lorenzo the Magnificent, as the undiscovered work of a young Michelangelo. Miranda's mother, Dr. Elizabeth Standford-Jones, the emotionally remote director of the Standjo art lab in Florence, has summoned her daughter from the family's Victorian cliffside home in Jones Point, Maine, to test the statue. Meanwhile, Miranda's father, equally remote, is an archaeologist who spends more time at his digs than at home. In fact, no one in the Jones family has made a successful run at marriage, a failure that Miranda and her alcoholic brother Andrew call the Jones curse. As for the statue, when it's discovered to be a fake, Miranda sets out to prove that someone stole the original. In this she's helped by gorgeous art thief Ryan Boldari (half-Italian, half-Irish), who's come to Jones Point to steal yet another bronze, which also turns out to be a forgery. Ryan's plan had been to use Miranda as a pawn, but now, naturally, he finds himself falling hard for her. While the two search for bronzes, a standard-issue romance-novel psychotic is stalking them. Most readers will twig to the killer's identity: Here, as always, Roberts's sexual tension is more compelling than her suspense. Perhaps it's time to take a sabbatical from the pink sweatshop and turn her considerable wit and narrative skills to a more original piece of work.
Pub Date: March 23, 1998
ISBN: 0-399-14387-4
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1998
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