Vivid, heartfelt and honest.
Dempsey-Legnon’s fictional adaptation of family history is a novel about life in a Cajun village in the early 1900s, as recounted by a woman who worked hard and suffered greatly for her family and for love.
In 1965, Jean Marc Fontenot lays in a hospital bed in Lafayette, La., with his wife, Angelique, at his side as Dempsey-Legnon’s impactful debut novel begins. Their children and grandchildren visit and keep Angelique company, but the steady stream of well-wishers does not change one fact: Jean Marc is dying. Angelique recounts the details of their love story, taking everyone back to Belair Cove in 1906, when she and Jean Marc were teenagers in love. To Angelique’s dismay, her father agrees with the father of the town troublemaker, Damon, that she will marry Damon, not Jean Marc. Since Damon’s family is wealthier, Angelique’s father tries to convince her that she can have a much more comfortable life with Damon. After Angelique reluctantly marries Damon, Jean Marc enlists in the military and leaves town for the war. As Damon’s volatile temper grows out of control, the disturbing details of Angelique’s awful marriage to him convincingly convey his alcoholism and abusive behavior. He’s possessive, controlling and, despite hardly showing any affection toward Angelique, he vows that he will never let her go. Damon is a miserable character; Angelique’s lack of courage to regularly stand up to him can be frustrating. On the other hand, Angelique secretly harbors feelings for Jean Marc, even in his absence. When he finally returns, he brings with him his British wife, a nurse named Elizabeth. An understandably shocked Angelique envies their life together; she still wishes to be with Jean Marc, whose mere presence in town enrages Damon. He warns Angelique against going near Jean Marc, but when Jean Marc and Elizabeth buy a neighboring farm, the lack of distance between both couples stirs up old feelings. In this captivating tale rich with historical detail, Dempsey-Legnon’s engaging writing style makes the reader feel like a part of Belair Cove, rather than an outsider looking in on the fraying romance.
Vivid, heartfelt and honest.Pub Date: Feb. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1105058585
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Lulu
Review Posted Online: May 8, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Haphazard and undemanding.
A sports agent’s first official client is the man she dumped years ago in college.
After two years of hard work as an underling, Nora Mackenzie is finally being promoted to full-time sports agent. She’s worked hard, kept quiet, and allowed men in the office to call her Mac—a nickname she hates—all to show she’s a team player and “one of the guys.” Unfortunately, her boss instructs her to sign Derek Pender, a football player coming off an injury, who happens to be the man she heartlessly dumped in their senior year of college. Derek signs with her for revenge, seeing it as his opportunity to pay Nora back for callously breaking his heart eight years earlier. He insists she be at his beck and call: answering his emails, running his errands, cooking dinner for his dates. He also refuses to let her explain why she broke up with him without warning or explanation. Nora feels she has no choice but to acquiesce to Derek’s humiliating demands, since she’s worked too hard to let him ruin her dream job. She hopes he’ll thaw and they might become friends, but Derek’s bad behavior is designed to hide the fact that he’s still in love with her. Nora’s characterization is uneven, veering between anger at how she’s treated in the male-dominated field to immature bickering and bantering with Derek. Although Adams likely meant for Derek and Nora’s interactions to have an enemies-to-lovers vibe, the characters instead seem juvenile and stuck in the past. The novel is fueled by a string of tropes—second chance romance! married in Vegas! only one bed!—each randomly deployed to keep the book going despite thin characterization and wan plotting.
Haphazard and undemanding.Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780593723678
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dell
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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