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THE ONLY BOY FOR ME

Name: THE ONLY BOY FOR ME
Author: Gil McNeil
ISBN: 1-58234-223-7

by Gil McNeil ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 7, 2002

Not very deep but undeniably entertaining.

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First-time novelist McNeil makes single motherhood, as sometimes suffered but mostly enjoyed by a freelance ad-producer in a quaint village near London, look awfully appealing.

The center of Annie's life is her six-year-old son Charlie, the happy result of an unhappy affair. Charlie’s father not only went back to his wife but also moved abroad, so he’s conveniently out of the picture. Annie’s job allows her to work at home much of the time. When she’s away on a commercial shoot, she depends on an enviable network of supportive friends and family. Annie recounts her daily life with the beloved but demanding Charlie—his tantrums, his food requirements, his way of sneaking into her bed at night—in a self-revealing approach reminiscent of Anne Lamott heroines. She engages us in her routines: taking Charlie to and from school, drinking (coffee or gin) with her women friends, working on comically nightmarish commercial shoots. Soon, not unexpectedly, a man enters the picture. Mac, a divorced ad executive with two kids and lots of money, is immediately as crazy about Annie as she is about him. He is handsome and romantic. He and Charlie like each other; even better, his son and Charlie quickly become best buddies. His only flaws are his less-than-total devotion to his children and his too-frequent need to be the center of attention (in other words, he’s a man). The story’s crisis occurs when Charlie comes down with meningitis. Parents, friends, and Mac rally round the distraught Annie while Charlie receives excellent medical care. He makes a speedy recovery, but not before Annie has been reminded just how precious he is to her. Weeks later, Mac takes a job in New York and asks her to marry and move there with him. Like a more mature Bridget Jones, she turns him down, leaving room for a sequel down the road.

Not very deep but undeniably entertaining.

Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2002

ISBN: 1-58234-223-7

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2001

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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SUMMER ISLAND

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...

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Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.

Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.

Pub Date: March 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-609-60737-5

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.