A love story that, despite some hiccups, offers a satisfying mix of intrigue and idealistic love.
In Martin’s (Impressions of Innocence, 2003) thriller/romance, a young woman risks all to confront a curse and discover the truth behind her lineage.
Lacey Roberts is in her final year of college at the University of Arizona when she meets a young man named Evanston Brighton, whom she immediately nicknames “Evs.” A few months of whirlwind courtship later, she finds herself engaged to him, even though she’s still grieving over her father’s mysterious murder. When a second tragedy strikes, she’s shocked to learn that her mother may have been somehow involved in her father’s death. Spurred on by her mother’s cryptic remarks, a bizarre poem and an old diary entry, Lacey becomes convinced that the women in her family are all cursed to kill the men they love. She goes in search of her rough-and-tumble mountain relatives in North Carolina, leaving behind her life and fiancee to pursue the truth at all costs. When Evanston and a threatening figure from her mother’s past both decide to come after her, she realizes that her life, and the lives of her newfound family, may be in danger. Lacey is a likable, earnest heroine, if a bit naïve, and Martin’s liberal use of plot twists and misdirection makes for an excellently paced tale. The novel deftly switches between past and present, and even between first- and third-person points of view, without ever becoming confusing. Yet, as with Lacey and Evanston’s relationship, the novel often feels rushed. Lacey jumps from being puzzled by her father’s death to being certain of a demonic curse far too quickly, and the truth surrounding her parentage unfolds in a way that some readers may find unnecessarily disturbing. The novel also relies far too heavily on dialogue for plot exposition. However, the North Carolina mountain setting is compelling, and Martin’s ability to keep readers guessing throughout is certainly laudable.
A love story that, despite some hiccups, offers a satisfying mix of intrigue and idealistic love.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2014
ISBN: 978-1500865825
Page Count: 272
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 20, 2014
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
