A fun, frank, and totally fab first novel, this glossy depiction of several gay relationships in the heart of Hollywood has a dash of depth to complement the camp: a lightweight but sincere exploration of love that creeps up on us when we least expect it. Twenty-eight-year-old Kevin Molloy is a jaded fashion photographer whose head-turning good looks have failed to bring him happiness. Meantime, his roommate Leon is stuck in the role of sidekick; no matter how hard he tries, or how much he works out, he can’t seem to match Kevin’s surefire appeal. When Hollywood mogul Brad Sherwood picks up Kevin in a parking lot, Kevin finally feels he’s gotten the break he deserves; he leaves Leon in the dust for a taste of the high life with Brad and Brad’s old friend Rob, who manages to acquire a plaything of his own in Australian personal trainer Kim. Although Kevin’s all too willing to play the pampered boy toy, he keeps his cards close to his vest and refuses to consider that he may actually have feelings for Brad; memories of the only man he’s ever really loved his former best friend/lover Anthony Capozi continue to haunt him even as he reaps the benefits of Sherwood’s millions. But before long, Kevin can’t deny the truth: He’s fallen for Brad, and the feeling is mutual. Rob plans an unprecedented Hollywood-style bash to celebrate their love and Brad’s business success, but disaster strikes when Brad discovers a secret from Kevin’s past. They break up, but, of course, it doesn’t end there. Eventually, a reconciliation seems likely. Even Leon seems to discover true love in the person of Rob’s Australian boyfriend. A refreshingly unconventional, high-spirited romp with heart and soul. (Quality Paperback Book Club alternate selection)
Pub Date: June 17, 1998
ISBN: 0-684-84936-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1998
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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