The fantasy of inheriting an old Victorian and $2 million has its appeal. It’s a shame readers can’t vicariously enjoy it...
A young widow and a handsome cop have a chance to rekindle a fledgling romance from their high school years—as long as their pride doesn’t get in the way.
Jennifer Stoddard, still reeling from the death of her husband a year earlier, suddenly has to return to her hometown of Bloomingvale to claim the inheritance her grandmother left her—a dilapidated Victorian house and more than $2 million, which she gets only if she agrees to live in the house for two years. Jennifer isn’t sure she wants to live in Bloomingvale again. It would mean being near her estranged mother, who was cut out of the will, and uprooting her 8-year-old son, Aaron, from their home in New York City. On top of that, she keeps having run-ins with the chief of police, Grant Coleman, the high school crush who stood her up on their first date. She wants to have nothing to do with him, but when she becomes the victim of several anonymous threats, Grant has to get involved. The book is equal parts mystery and romance, each part being equally predictable. Despite Jennifer's dislike of and attraction to Grant, none of their interactions contain any tension, sexual or otherwise. The dialogue has a stilted quality reminiscent of the old Nancy Drew books, which is great fun for kids but unsatisfying for adults. Jennifer, who hasn’t worked as a biochemist since Aaron was born, has too little to do in this book. Even her renovations are being done for her, by Grant’s nicer brother, Rob. A secondary storyline in which Rob romances Jennifer’s best friend, Maryann, is only slightly more engaging.
The fantasy of inheriting an old Victorian and $2 million has its appeal. It’s a shame readers can’t vicariously enjoy it through the eyes of a more interesting heroine.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-940758-50-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Intrigue Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
Fans of Christian romance will delight in this tale of salvation through love.
A highly sought-after artist by day and clandestine graffiti prankster by night, Roman Velasco has shut his heart—until Grace Moore shows up on his doorstep.
Grace has overcome too much in her life: she has survived her parents’ violent deaths; she has given up her own studies to support her husband through college only to find him cheating on her in their own house; and she has transcended the shock of an unplanned pregnancy. Through it all, Jesus has stood by her, even appearing as an angel to comfort her when she was a grieving 7-year-old trying to find a way to endure. Recently, she has found a home for herself and her 5-month-old son, Samuel, but living with the Garcias, who had hoped to adopt Samuel, is difficult, especially since Selah consistently pushes Grace away, casting herself as the boy’s constant maternal presence. So when Grace accepts a job as the temperamental Roman’s personal assistant, complete with a cottage to herself —a cottage where she can start to separate from Selah and her family, where she can build a life for herself and Samuel —it's a dream come true. Roman’s rough language and atheism, however, trouble Grace, just as Grace's spirituality and privacy trouble Roman. After all, he's used to easy women and commitment-free interludes. Christian novelist Rivers (Earth Psalms, 2016, etc.) deftly threads Roman’s and Grace’s lives together as they tiptoe around their emotional scars, eventually shifting into a dance of tentative steps toward a love neither can resist.
Fans of Christian romance will delight in this tale of salvation through love.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4964-0790-0
Page Count: 500
Publisher: Tyndale House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
A bright, funny, hopeful tale of untangling family knots.
For generations, the second-born daughters of the Fontana family have been cursed with loveless lives. Can Emilia and her cousin Lucy finally break the spell?
Enraged that her beautiful younger sister might have beguiled her boyfriend, Filomena Fontana cast the curse long ago. Since then, family lore has held that every second-born daughter is doomed. Two hundred years later, Emilia and her older sister, Daria, scoffed. That is, until 7-year-old Emilia had to make a family tree for her social studies class and noticed the inescapable truth: There were no marriages among the second daughters. Even her free-spirited cousin Lucy, herself a second daughter, can’t manage to keep a boyfriend past the fourth date. Now pushing 30 and still single, Emilia’s resigned to her fate of working in the family bakery and living in her tiny third-floor apartment in the family home in Bensonhurst, aka Brooklyn’s Little Italy. Her Nonna Rose rules the roost with an iron first, watching Emilia’s every move and even banning her from communicating with her mysterious Great Aunt Poppy, herself a second daughter and the only relative willing to talk about Emilia’s late mother. But when Poppy sends Emilia and Lucy an invitation for an all-expenses-paid trip to Italy—and promises that she can break the curse—how can Emilia refuse? Nonna might be furious, but the possibility of learning more about her own mother makes up Emilia’s mind for her. Once in Italy, Emilia and Lucy discover the truth about not only the curse, but also themselves, not to mention Poppy’s own secrets. Spielman (Sweet Forgiveness, 2015, etc.) deftly spins Emilia’s story, layering in the backstory of how Poppy and Rose immigrated to America, with Rose following her husband, Alfonso, but Poppy losing the love of her life. Or did she? Along the way, Spielman twists our fairy-tale expectations about love, curses, and happy endings.
A bright, funny, hopeful tale of untangling family knots.Pub Date: April 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0316-0
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
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