Love excuses bad ethics in this implausible tale of an intrepid baron’s daughter who lies her way to a happy ending. For...
A smuggling ring in Cornwall and a war hero with entrepreneurial dreams add some novelty to this Regency romance.
Leigh (From Duke Till Dawn, 2017, etc.) returns to the trope of a lying heroine with a heart of gold that she employed in the first novel in her London Underground series. Tamsyn Pearce, the impoverished orphan daughter of minor gentry, meets Kit Ellingsworth, the new Earl of Blakemere, at a London ball where they are both seeking a marriage of convenience: she needs a husband's money to buy a home base for her smuggling operation, which is keeping her entire Cornish village afloat; Kit is widely known to be bound by a will that requires matrimony before the awarding of a substantial inheritance. Their instant attraction is a surprise bonus. A quick wedding seems like the best option, but a new clause in the will is revealed after the ceremony—one that hands control of the promised funds to Tamsyn. The unexpected twist, followed by Kit’s bungling attempt to seduce Tamsyn into financing a cherished venture, threatens the bond that had begun to override their initial mercenary intent. There is also the small matter of Tamsyn’s criminal activity, which she is determined to continue and keep a secret from Kit—even when using his house to store goods. The logical consequence of this choice can be predicted well in advance, like the basement scene in a slasher movie. The novel does a credible job of showing the couple's growing love, though mostly in scenes of Kit striving to make his countess happy, and also fleshes out some of the minor characters. But the pacing is uneven; a scene in a sex club, for example, is unexciting, more like a clumsy detour into a 1970s key party orgy.
Love excuses bad ethics in this implausible tale of an intrepid baron’s daughter who lies her way to a happy ending. For fans of risk-taking heroines and saved-by-the-bell conclusions.Pub Date: March 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-249943-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable...
An unlucky woman finally gets lucky in love on an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii.
From getting her hand stuck in a claw machine at age 6 to losing her job, Olive Torres has never felt that luck was on her side. But her fortune changes when she scores a free vacation after her identical twin sister and new brother-in-law get food poisoning at their wedding buffet and are too sick to go on their honeymoon. The only catch is that she’ll have to share the honeymoon suite with her least favorite person—Ethan Thomas, the brother of the groom. To make matters worse, Olive’s new boss and Ethan’s ex-girlfriend show up in Hawaii, forcing them both to pretend to be newlyweds so they don’t blow their cover, as their all-inclusive vacation package is nontransferable and in her sister’s name. Plus, Ethan really wants to save face in front of his ex. The story is told almost exclusively from Olive’s point of view, filtering all communication through her cynical lens until Ethan can win her over (and finally have his say in the epilogue). To get to the happily-ever-after, Ethan doesn’t have to prove to Olive that he can be a better man, only that he was never the jerk she thought he was—for instance, when she thought he was judging her for eating cheese curds, maybe he was actually thinking of asking her out. Blending witty banter with healthy adult communication, the fake newlyweds have real chemistry as they talk it out over snorkeling trips, couples massages, and a few too many tropical drinks to get to the truth—that they’re crazy about each other.
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable as well as free.Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2803-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
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