In this sensual road trip across LA there are deep conversations, adult situations, and a sweet love story at every turn.
An out-of-work project manager and his two brothers are broke and brokenhearted in Los Angeles—until a trio of sex workers offers him a way to help his whole family.
A “pace of asses” is what Brick jokingly calls them. But the three women he works with—Penny, Christiana, and Mocha Latte—are sophisticated, well educated, and down on their luck thanks to bad jobs and worse relationships. He’s initially hired to serve as their chauffeur, but soon their high-end female clients invite him inside for more. These high-powered women have deep pockets and deep emotional issues to match, but Brick seems to enjoy giving them the boyfriend experience. He’s out of work after a bout with cancer, and he’d also like to help out his brother Dwayne, whose kid and ex-girlfriend are struggling too. Dwayne is a fairly successful stage actor, but after hitting a rough patch he’s behind on his child support payments, and his ex-girlfriend won’t let him forget it. Their other brother, André, meanwhile, has managed to turn his unfortunate run-ins with the cops (and other hazards of being black in America) into a popular comedy routine. The brothers see LA from all angles, from its high-end hotels to its neglected homeless population. An education alone can’t guarantee survival in California’s unforgiving real estate market, especially not for people of color. But love can help (or hurt) their chances, and when it goes wrong, as Dwayne’s ex observes, “Love spares no one. We all pay.” Brick’s neighborhood is also home to fictional bill collector Ken Swift, and here Dickey (Before We Were Wicked, 2019, etc.) has left an Easter egg for readers to find.
In this sensual road trip across LA there are deep conversations, adult situations, and a sweet love story at every turn.Pub Date: April 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5247-4520-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
IN THE NEWS
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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