Thoroughly mediocre.
The sixth in Ray’s Invincible Women Series (And Mistress Makes Three, 2009, etc.) stars a wealthy, widowed restaurateur with a past and a cop who specializes in defusing hostage situations.
Since her husband Martin passed away three years ago, Nathalyia has turned their Cajun restaurant Fontaine into one of the hottest watering holes in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Rich, gorgeous Nathalyia is impervious to men, until studly but upstanding cop Rafael walks into her bar and orders iced tea. Their chemistry is instantaneous, but genre conventions require that they circle each other and exchange smoldering glances for at least 130 pages before the obligatory sex scene. Luckily, other characters are willing to entertain us while we wait. Clarice, head waitress at Fontaine’s, disguises her low self-esteem (she’s worried about her weight) with smart-mouthed jabs at bartender Jake, an Iraq War veteran. Buff, bald Jake is a tough guy with a soft spot for Clarice he can’t let her see. Fiercely loyal to Nathalyia, he’s waiting for Rafael to give him an excuse for fisticuffs. All too occasionally, tense hostage situations of the cuckold-with-a-gun variety allow us to see Rafael at work as a negotiator. Nathalyia’s no-account sister Theresa, who shows up to extort money from her, also provides relief from the spectacle of the oh-so-holier-than-thou couple exercising impeccable self-restraint. When Nathalyia becomes pregnant, the lovers continue to strew obstacles in their own path. (She: I would never get pregnant just to trap a man like my mother and sisters did. He: My job is so dangerous it’s better not to have a family.) Anticipating rejection, Nathalyia tells Rafael that she was inseminated with Martin’s frozen sperm. Stung, he postures more. Inevitably, Rafael’s close-knit family brings him to his senses, while Nathalyia’s dysfunctional one reminds her of all she’s overcome and all she can still achieve.
Thoroughly mediocre.Pub Date: March 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-312-57369-0
Page Count: 336
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2010
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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