Three attractive French tutors guide each of their American charges through an unforgettable day in Paris.
Meeting regularly at a café before work, colleagues Chantal, Philippe and Nico teach private language sessions and have what might be described as a complex (or just French) relationship. Chantal has slept with both men, although she considers Philippe—in spite of all evidence to the contrary—to be her boyfriend. She also finds herself drawn to her client Jeremy, the carpenter husband of famous movie star Dana Hurley, who is shooting a film in town. On their last day together, the two of them wander the streets, get stuck in a rainstorm and share an easy camaraderie that gives them both pause. Jeremy is happily married, but Chantal’s low-key allure offers him a seductive glimpse of a life away from Dana’s fame. Pining for Chantal, Nico is assigned Josie Felton, a pretty young teacher from San Francisco. Still reeling from the sudden death of her much older (and married) lover, Josie cannot help but be delighted with the puppy-like Nico, who takes her shopping, flirts up a storm and tries to convince her to run away with him to Provence. But is it too soon? Sexy wannabe musician Philippe, meanwhile, meets up with the voluptuous Riley, a lonely expatriate mom whose animosity toward Paris is rivaled only by her disdain for her husband Vic. Lacking the confidence or ability to actually learn the language, Riley nonetheless makes a bold overture to Philippe, who responds with an enthusiasm that makes her rethink that whole hating-Paris thing. In spite of some overly familiar scenarios (Chantal’s flower-festooned houseboat picnic, Philippe’s hot bedroom antics), Sussman’s (On a Night Like This, 2004, etc.) breezy entry into the holiday-romance genre has a lot going for it and benefits greatly by giving the locals their point-of-view, too.
Pleasantly evocative escape to the City of Love.
Pub Date: July 12, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-345-52277-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2011
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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