A breezy, appealing, and sexy love story.
A medical emergency leads to an unexpected chance at romance for an outgoing Hollywood starlet and a reserved doctor in this novel.
Singer and dancer Annabelle Montclare lives for the spotlight. She gained fame for her provocative music and videos and her outspoken persona. Her career means everything to her, and she puts her drive to succeed ahead of her health. Everything changes when she is hospitalized with a ruptured ovarian cyst. Her operation is a success thanks to her surgeon, Warren Fitzgerald. Despite the circumstances, Annabelle finds Warren handsome but “a hard nut to crack.” During her follow-up appointments, she engages in teasing repartee with him, but when she asks him to dinner, he ends their professional relationship and refers her to another physician. Months later, Annabelle and Warren reconnect and realize that they share a mutual attraction. But he is concerned about Annabelle’s youth and the fact that they are at “disparate stages of life.” As their relationship deepens, Annabelle lands a role in a major film, and Warren discovers the public scrutiny that comes with dating a controversial entertainer. Warren is captivated by the effervescent Annabelle, and she sees a future with the dashing doctor, but a series of personal and professional pressures causes the couple to wonder whether their relationship can withstand the glare of the Hollywood spotlight. Famous’ (Love & Candy, 2013, etc.) novel is a spirited contemporary romance that features dynamic characters, witty dialogue, and a lively plot brimming with twists and turns. Annabelle and Warren are well-developed protagonists whose relationship develops gradually as their droll banter evolves into a passionate and life-changing connection. One of the tale’s strongest elements is the way the author adeptly balances the playful and erotic aspects of their relationship through snappy exchanges that reflect their chemistry (He: “Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether you’re being sincere or not.” She: “Just assume I’m never for real.” He: “But then there’s the whole metalevel where you joke about whether or not you’re joking”). The story moves at a brisk pace, enhanced by subplots involving Annabelle’s burgeoning acting career and Warren’s adjustment to dating a celebrity. That said, the editing is inconsistent at times. For example, a roadie is described as carrying a “base guitar” instead of a bass guitar, and Annabelle’s gynecologist’s name is given as both “Dr. Loo” and “Dr. Lo.”
A breezy, appealing, and sexy love story.Pub Date: Aug. 19, 2018
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 255
Publisher: The Miri Group
Review Posted Online: May 29, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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