A charming book for the modern romance lover.
After a disastrous and highly public proposal gone wrong, a no-nonsense freelance writer rebounds with her knight in shining armor.
Nikole Paterson has been dating her boyfriend for all of five months when he goes for broke and proposes to her on the Jumbotron at a Dodgers game. When she turns him down and he leaves, furious, the attitude in the stadium begins to turn, and that’s when Carlos Ibarra and his sister, Angela, step in. Pretending to be her friends, they get her out of the park and back on her home turf. Knowing that neither of them wants to be in a serious relationship at the moment, Nik and Carlos give in to their mutual attraction and decide to just have something casual. While Nik struggles with suddenly feeling vulnerable and Carlos is dealing with possible health problems in his family, their fling becomes more and more serious until the two have to reckon with just how much they mean to each other. Guillory’s (The Wedding Date, 2018) sophomore novel continues in the same universe as her first, with previous couple Drew and Alexa showing up briefly to visit. However, Nik and Carlos are the stars of this outing, both standout characters who feel incredibly real. Guillory is a deft hand at creating likable, memorable characters and free-flowing conversations that make you feel like you’re eavesdropping on some cool 30-somethings at a hip bar. Carlos’ family and Nik’s friends add to the unique joy of the mix. While there isn’t much of an overall plot, the majority of the book being devoted to just watching Carlos and Nik going on dates and being cute, it’s hard to get upset about it because the whole thing is just so delightful.
A charming book for the modern romance lover.Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-399-58768-9
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: June 17, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
To her usual mix of love, mystery, and passion, Roberts (Sanctuary, 1997, etc.)—author of 115 romancers in some 17 years—adds Renaissance art and a decidedly Medici-like family: the Joneses of Maine. Dr. Miranda Jones, nearly six feet with flaming red hair and a glacial reserve, is an archeometrist who specializes in the analyzing and dating of Renaissance bronze sculpture. Miranda hopes to secure a world-class reputation for herself by authenticating a 15th-century statue of the Dark Lady, one of the mistresses of Lorenzo the Magnificent, as the undiscovered work of a young Michelangelo. Miranda's mother, Dr. Elizabeth Standford-Jones, the emotionally remote director of the Standjo art lab in Florence, has summoned her daughter from the family's Victorian cliffside home in Jones Point, Maine, to test the statue. Meanwhile, Miranda's father, equally remote, is an archaeologist who spends more time at his digs than at home. In fact, no one in the Jones family has made a successful run at marriage, a failure that Miranda and her alcoholic brother Andrew call the Jones curse. As for the statue, when it's discovered to be a fake, Miranda sets out to prove that someone stole the original. In this she's helped by gorgeous art thief Ryan Boldari (half-Italian, half-Irish), who's come to Jones Point to steal yet another bronze, which also turns out to be a forgery. Ryan's plan had been to use Miranda as a pawn, but now, naturally, he finds himself falling hard for her. While the two search for bronzes, a standard-issue romance-novel psychotic is stalking them. Most readers will twig to the killer's identity: Here, as always, Roberts's sexual tension is more compelling than her suspense. Perhaps it's time to take a sabbatical from the pink sweatshop and turn her considerable wit and narrative skills to a more original piece of work.
Pub Date: March 23, 1998
ISBN: 0-399-14387-4
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1998
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