An exciting contemporary series debut with a wildly unique Alaskan setting.
A workaholic doctor takes a forced vacation and returns to her hometown, reconnecting with the best friend she’s lost touch with and her friend's sexy brother, a search-and-rescue Adonis whose small-town contentment makes her question some life choices.
Dr. Erika Sheraton is a talented surgeon who’s on the cusp of clinical trials for a new anti-rejection drug when she’s put on forced leave because her superiors think she's working too much and it's affecting her performance. She works at the Anchorage hospital run by her father, which means she’s continually under his scrutiny, which is complicated. Their relationship has been strained since her mother died when Erika was in high school and her father became emotionally distant, compelling Erika to work round the clock. Now that she has to take a vacation, she has nowhere to go, so she arranges to visit her childhood best friend, Cassie, whom she hasn’t seen since high school and who still lives in their hometown, Wild River. At first uncomfortable, they soon regain their friendship, then meet up with Cassie’s brother, Reed. Erika and Reed shared an emotionally intense event in high school, and once they meet again, sparks fly. Reed serves on the Wild River Search and Rescue, and over the next two weeks, Erika joins the team on a couple of searches. She’s falling for Reed and loving life in Wild River, but when she returns to Anchorage, she falls back into her workaholic ways and loses touch until another set of surprises forces her to reevaluate everything. Snow’s Alaska setting and search-and-rescue element are interesting twists, and the romance is generally smart and sexy. However, Erika’s father’s about-face emotional engagement feels odd, especially when he effectively takes life-changing decisions out of her hands.
An exciting contemporary series debut with a wildly unique Alaskan setting.Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-335-04150-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Harlequin HQN
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An excellent debut that combines wit, humor, and emotional intensity.
A woman refuses to be with her soul mate, but life intervenes, making her choice harder and more heartbreaking.
Josh meets Kristen with a bang, literally, when she slams on her brakes and he runs into her. There's minimal damage, so she disappears. Minutes later they discover that their best friends are engaged to each other and they were slated to meet that day at the fire station where Brandon and Josh work. Josh is immediately smitten, but Kristen has a boyfriend, Tyler, who’s deployed overseas. Counting down the days until he gets home for good, Kristen adamantly puts Josh in the friend zone, refusing to acknowledge their growing closeness and her spiking attraction. Then Tyler reenlists, effectively breaking up with her. Kristen and Josh sleep together, but she slams the door on his hope for a real relationship, telling him it will never be more than a friends-with-benefits situation. Josh thinks Kristen is mourning the end of her relationship with Tyler, but really, Kristen realizes Josh is her perfect match. Unfortunately she also knows Josh wants children, which would be nearly impossible for them due to her malfunctioning reproductive system. The two reach a painful impasse, but when tragedy strikes, they find themselves reevaluating their relationship. Josh knows he’ll never be happy without Kristen, but he’ll have to think outside the box to convince her to take a chance on them. Jimenez tackles a myriad of issues in her debut and hits each one with depth and sensitivity. Kristen’s take-no-prisoners attitude is smart and sassy and perfectly balanced by Josh’s easygoing resourcefulness, though at times her lack of transparency while jerking him around makes her seem more immature than self-sacrificing.
An excellent debut that combines wit, humor, and emotional intensity.Pub Date: July 9, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5387-1560-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
Michaels’s cluttered style has been noticeably trimmed this time around, which keeps the over-the-top plot moving right...
Good brother, bad brother.
It’s 1984: Rick, a wild young Hollywood star and all-around stud, is boozing heavily and secretly doing drugs—but he’s been warned. His controlling, money-mad, hyper-responsible older brother Philly isn’t going to bail him out next time, or square things with that dated entity referred to only as “the studio.” Skip to 1999: Rick’s sobered up and he’s still going strong. “He had a tinge of gray at his temples these days, but the studio expertly covered it up.” (The prolific Michaels may have been too busy churning out bestsellers to notice that studios haven’t kept actors under contract for decades, but never mind.) Rick skips the dye job, however, when Philly dies in an accident and leaves most of his estate to his ne’er-do-well brother, who gives up acting and takes over the resorts-for-the-rich that Philly was developing, though Roxy, Philly’s trashy wife, resents him for it. Ditto Reba, Roxy’s plastic surgeon daughter: Philly was like a father to her but he didn’t leave her much money. Well, what the hell, Rick wants to make everyone happy and redeem himself, so he lets Roxy take over the Crown Jewel, their flagship island resort—and he makes peace with Max and Tyler, the grown sons who never knew him (Philly paid off their mothers), then befriends tough but cute reporter Gracie Lick, and investigates the mystery of Philly’s parentage. Gee, Philly was adopted! Can it be true that Philly’s real mother, 14 when he was born, is now married to aged billionaire Armand Farquar? And did the young Lorraine rescue her newborn son from a Dumpster when her heartless lover tossed him in and then bravely give him up for adoption? She did! And is her lover, Philly’s father, now the Vice President of the United States? He is! Will reporter Gracie Lick take this unlikely story and run with it? She will!
Michaels’s cluttered style has been noticeably trimmed this time around, which keeps the over-the-top plot moving right along. For the fans.Pub Date: Dec. 30, 2003
ISBN: 0-7434-5779-X
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2003
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