A taut, compelling family tale.
A debut novel mixes high school drama, teen romance, and a strong thread of mystery and thriller.
New kids are a big deal in the quiet town of Millington Valley. All the more so when they’re as eye-catching as Molly Hanover, who makes a splash when she arrives in her senior year of high school and begins going out with football star Wade Thornton. Wade’s friendships fray, especially with his best friend and teammate, Tommy “Legs”; cheerleaders like Missi Reynolds harass Molly over her newfound happiness; and her mother’s landlord hangs around, becoming more than a little creepy. But when Molly is about to tell Wade and her mother, Ann, about the worst of what’s really been happening to her, the rush of emotion and Wade’s nasty drinking habit put them in a terrible accident. Molly wakes to discover scars weighing on her once-beautiful features while holes and suspicions eat at her memory. With her memory in pieces and her injuries severe, matters only seem to be getting worse for her, Ann, and Wade. If no one can put together what Molly was so desperate—and afraid—to tell her loved ones, disaster will be just around the next bend. With strong prose and pacing, the pages turn quickly and easily. Ann’s need to provide a good life for her daughter; Molly’s insecurities and love of words; and Wade’s fraught relationship with his town, team, and alcohol all feel genuine and well-conceived. That said, Christie’s story can feel light on detail at times. Wade’s initial, intense feelings for Molly are well-conveyed, but their relationship doesn’t have quite enough space, communication, and context to grow and deepen. The same goes for Molly, whose feelings when dealing with bullying and harassment are clear and palpable, but who has almost no time to process the worst of what happens to her before the accident seals her memory. It’s also worth noting that few of the secondary players really seem to have lives outside of their dealings with the protagonists. That said, the central characters’ story has plenty to make it worthwhile, and many readers are sure to feel at home with this intriguing book despite any shortcomings.
A taut, compelling family tale.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-61296-940-4
Page Count: -
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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