by Jacqueline E. Luckett ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 27, 2010
The fact that the characters happen to be African-American adds nothing to this standard woman’s empowerment romance.
Wealthy California matron in midlife crisis uses the veteran entertainer as her role model in Luckett’s debut.
While husband Randall is on an extended business trip, Lena stews in their Oakland mansion and reads Tina’s autobiography about life after Ike. Randall is no abusive Ike Turner. But he is a self-absorbed businessman who won’t go back to marriage counseling and has told Lena to figure out on her own what she wants. Lena put her ambitions as a photographer on hold in order to support Randall in his climb up the corporate ladder. Now he takes her for granted and can’t understand why she doesn’t appreciate the expensive lifestyle he’s provided. She tells him: She wants his attention, not his gifts (although readers might notice she does seem to relish the expensive trappings described in loving detail). When Randall gets home, the marriage goes from bad to worse. He may or may not be fooling around with his assistant, but he definitely resents what he considers Lena’s disloyalty as much as she resents his high-handed arrogance. When the two separate, their bratty college-age kids are with Randall all the way. Soon Lena is comfortably ensconced in her new luxury apartment with a dream gallery job starting in two weeks. She takes off for southern France, hoping to meet Tina and see her perform in concert. Wouldn’t you know it, shortly after arriving in Nice she runs into an old flame at the hotel pool. Years ago, Harmon chose another woman and has regretted it ever since. Soon he’s wining, dining and bedding Lena—not to mention proposing. When Randall shows up, full of apologies, she is understandably torn. Then she learns that her beloved mother has died and cuts her trip short. Even though Lena never actually sees Tina Turner perform, her self-affirming spirit carries the day.
The fact that the characters happen to be African-American adds nothing to this standard woman’s empowerment romance.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-54296-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2009
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BOOK REVIEW
by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951
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
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
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
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