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FACE-TIME

Today’s intentional blurring of the line between fact and fiction continues with sometime speechwriter Tarloff’s first novel, which asks the burning question: What if “Monica Lewinsky” had a live-in boyfriend who got wind of her affair and had hurt feelings and moral outrage of his own? In this version, that boyfriend, Ben Krause, is a speechwriter drawn to Senator Charles Sheffield’s presidential campaign not so much by Sheffield’s practiced charm as by his survival among the shoals of other piranha. When Ben’s girlfriend, Gretchen Burns, lands a job in the new President’s social office, the starry-eyed couple buy a condo off Dupont Circle and settle down to the good life. Even though that life includes a growing number of invitations to increasingly exalted and intimate White House functions, and a widening gulf between the two caused by Gretchen’s unexplained absences, it takes Ben quite a while to catch on to the First Affair that his mate’s been conducting with every solicitous effort to spare his feelings—except, of course, by breaking off the relationship after Ben demands it. Tarloff’s signal achievement is his conviction in rendering Gretchen’s and Ben’s continued infatuation with the man who’s wrecking their lives—an attraction that goes far beyond their reluctance to offend the President. Both of them live for face-to-face time with the magnetic scoundrel who compares himself to Churchill in a climactic scene that, like so much else here, seems to have been written with both eyes on Primary Colors. The novel’s deeper, horrific fascination, though, lies in its nonfictional innuendos and in the sort of journalistic/historical associations hammered home by Ben’s extended citations of Suetonius, Desmond Morris, Jane Goodall, and Kirk Douglas’s autobiography. Unremarkable as fiction, but riveting for potential gossips less likely to be caught up in the soapy predicament of Gretchen and Ben than to wonder about the author’s relationship with his own spouse, former Clinton economic advisor Laura D’Andrea Tyson. (Literary Guild and Mystery Guild selection; author tour)

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-609-60463-5

Page Count: 240

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1998

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LOVE AND OTHER WORDS

With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.

Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.

Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.

With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.

Pub Date: April 10, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1

Page Count: 416

Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018

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THE LAST LETTER

A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.

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A promise to his best friend leads an Army serviceman to a family in need and a chance at true love in this novel.

Beckett Gentry is surprised when his Army buddy Ryan MacKenzie gives him a letter from Ryan’s sister, Ella. Abandoned by his mother, Beckett grew up in a series of foster homes. He is wary of attachments until he reads Ella’s letter. A single mother, Ella lives with her twins, Maisie and Colt, at Solitude, the resort she operates in Telluride, Colorado. They begin a correspondence, although Beckett can only identify himself by his call sign, Chaos. After Ryan’s death during a mission, Beckett travels to Telluride as his friend had requested. He bonds with the twins while falling deeply in love with Ella. Reluctant to reveal details of Ryan’s death and risk causing her pain, Beckett declines to disclose to Ella that he is Chaos. Maisie needs treatment for neuroblastoma, and Beckett formally adopts the twins as a sign of his commitment to support Ella and her children. He and Ella pursue a romance, but when an insurance investigator questions the adoption, Beckett is faced with revealing the truth about the letters and Ryan’s death, risking losing the family he loves. Yarros’ (Wilder, 2016, etc.) novel is a deeply felt and emotionally nuanced contemporary romance bolstered by well-drawn characters and strong, confident storytelling. Beckett and Ella are sympathetic protagonists whose past experiences leave them cautious when it comes to love. Beckett never knew the security of a stable home life. Ella impulsively married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended when he discovered she was pregnant. The author is especially adept at developing the characters through subtle but significant details, like Beckett’s aversion to swearing. Beckett and Ella’s romance unfolds slowly in chapters that alternate between their first-person viewpoints. The letters they exchanged are pivotal to their connection, and almost every chapter opens with one. Yarros’ writing is crisp and sharp, with passages that are poetic without being florid. For example, in a letter to Beckett, Ella writes of motherhood: “But I’m not the center of their universe. I’m more like their gravity.” While the love story is the book’s focus, the subplot involving Maisie’s illness is equally well-developed, and the link between Beckett and the twins is heartfelt and sincere.

A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.

Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-64063-533-3

Page Count: 432

Publisher: Entangled: Amara

Review Posted Online: Jan. 2, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019

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