A racy guilty pleasure that should appeal to fans of Jackie Collins and Stuart Woods.
A couple’s relationship becomes tested by secrets and lies from the past in this debut novel.
Raymond Welles and Carinda Dowry approach their first date with a sense of nervous anticipation. Both are divorced and wary of the singles’ scene. Ray’s marriage to Kimberly was marked by bitter arguments and power struggles over their daughters. Carinda survived a traumatic childhood and abusive first marriage. She later built a successful career in real estate and wed a developer named Mitchell Dowry; however, that union ended after he went to jail for bank fraud. Seeking a fresh start, she moved to Boca Raton, Florida, where she met Ray through an online dating service. Their connection is intense, and both believe they have found a fulfilling relationship. Despite their bliss, they soon find themselves trapped by their pasts. Ray is coping with the lingering effects of a brain tumor and battling Kimberly over visitation rights. He also discovers that Carinda may be dealing with an addiction to prescription medication. Desperate to get his family back on track, Ray sells his business and moves with Carinda to Milwaukee, where he discovers that what he does not know about his lover could put him in jeopardy. Gilbert’s book is a fast-paced erotic thriller with strong characters and an inventive narrative structure. The author has crafted a pair of distinctive protagonists in Ray and Carinda. Ray is an honorable man who believes he has found a second chance at happiness and passion with Carinda. While his life takes some unpredictable turns, the tale grounds Ray with the realistic details of his illness and struggles with his daughters and former wife. Carinda is worldly and street-wise, if rough-hewn (“Before Ray, I was running through men like shit through a goose”). Ray and Carinda’s scenes sizzle with palpable chemistry and tension. The story is told in a panoply of voices, including Carinda’s, Ray’s, his daughters’, and Kimberly’s. The multiplicity of perspectives enhances the narrative and allows Gilbert to achieve a deeper level of character development.
A racy guilty pleasure that should appeal to fans of Jackie Collins and Stuart Woods.Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4834-7358-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
