Another sexy, tender Mackenzie love story that romance fans won’t want to miss.
After Daniel Mackenzie meets Violet, a charlatan clairvoyant who first intrigues and then nearly kills him, he can’t shake the memory of her beauty, her intelligence or her visible fear, so of course he has to track her down and get to the bottom of his inexplicable attraction and protectiveness.
As the eldest child of the next generation of infamous Mackenzies, Daniel has garnered his own reputation as a devil-may-care rake, but with his good looks, talent and affability, women love him, and most reasonable gentlemen don’t mind his company. And, of course, he has the staunch support and affection of his uncles, some of the most powerful, resourceful and impressive men in England. When Daniel bests a pompous lout in a game of poker and the man tries to pay some of his debt with a late-night visit to a tenant with extraordinary skills, Daniel is surprised when the woman is not a prostitute but a celebrated psychic. Daniel sees through "Violet" right away but is impressed by her ability to read people and her ingenuity in setting up the props that accompany the impromptu séance. He is also conscious of a blazing awareness between them, one that unnerves the beauty and ultimately leads her to push him away violently, accidentally injuring him in the process. When he wakes up the next day, she has disappeared, and he is even more captivated and attracted, a compelling array of feelings that will lead him to find her in Europe and discover her precarious lifestyle as a spiritualist, not to mention a score of other issues. Ultimately, it will convince Daniel he has found the woman he can’t live without, which leads to even more challenges the two must face in order to gain their happily-ever-after. Historical romance favorite Ashley is known for her Mackenzie wounded alpha heroes, but fans have watched Daniel grow up through the series, and the author touchingly establishes him as a favored-son hero who takes on the role of knight in shining armor for his beautifully rendered damsel in distress.
Another sexy, tender Mackenzie love story that romance fans won’t want to miss.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-425-25395-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Review Posted Online: Oct. 4, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Entertaining and thoroughly engrossing.
Another reboot of Jane Austen?!? Hadlow pulls it off in a smart, heartfelt novel devoted to bookish Mary, middle of the five sisters in Pride and Prejudice.
Part 1 recaps Pride and Prejudice through Mary’s eyes, climaxing with the humiliating moment when she sings poorly at a party and older sister Elizabeth goads their father to cut her off in front of everyone. The sisters’ friend Charlotte, who marries the unctuous Mr. Collins after Elizabeth rejects him, emerges as a pivotal character; her conversations with Mary are even tougher-minded here than those with Elizabeth depicted by Austen. In Part 2, two years later, Mary observes on a visit that Charlotte is deferential but remote with her husband; she forms an intellectual friendship with the neglected and surprisingly nice Mr. Collins that leads to Charlotte’s asking Mary to leave. In Part 3, Mary finds refuge in London with her kindly aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner. Mrs. Gardiner is the second motherly woman, after Longbourn housekeeper Mrs. Hill, to try to undo the psychic damage wrought by Mary’s actual mother, shallow, status-obsessed Mrs. Bennet, by building up her confidence and buying her some nice clothes (funded by guilt-ridden Lizzy). Sure enough, two suitors appear: Tom Hayward, a poetry-loving lawyer who relishes Mary’s intellect but urges her to also express her feelings; and William Ryder, charming but feckless inheritor of a large fortune, whom naturally Mrs. Bennet loudly favors. It takes some maneuvering to orchestrate the estrangement of Mary and Tom, so clearly right for each other, but debut novelist Hadlow manages it with aplomb in a bravura passage describing a walking tour of the Lake District rife with seething complications furthered by odious Caroline Bingley. Her comeuppance at Mary’s hands marks the welcome final step in our heroine’s transformation from a self-doubting wallflower to a vibrant, self-assured woman who deserves her happy ending. Hadlow traces that progression with sensitivity, emotional clarity, and a quiet edge of social criticism Austen would have relished.
Entertaining and thoroughly engrossing.Pub Date: March 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-12941-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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