An entertaining and quick read about self-discovery.
A suburban mom gets a blast from the past when she reconnects with her now-famous high school sweetheart.
Rachel Miller has two wonderful children, a great relationship with her parents, and a successful career as a lawyer. Her marriage isn’t perfect—her husband, Dan, isn’t super helpful or affectionate—but overall, she's happy. That is, until old photos of her with her high school boyfriend, Jack Bellow, are published in the tabloids—along with the love letters he wrote her. Jack is now a mega-famous movie star, and the pictures make Rachel temporarily famous. Suddenly, all the other soccer moms are gossiping about her, she’s getting calls from tabloids, and reporters are even showing up at her house. When Rachel realizes who sold her out, she ends up reconnecting with Jack to explain and apologize. But seeing Jack again makes Rachel realize her feelings for him never really went away, and as she spends time texting and meeting up with Jack while growing more distant from Dan, she wonders if Jack might be the man she’s really meant to be with. Although the writing is at times stilted (especially in the many flashbacks, which lean toward telling versus showing), the book moves quickly as Rachel discovers new things about herself and her past. Saunders creates a fun story for those who can't get enough celebrity gossip, and Rachel's journey to decide if she should stay with Dan or get back together with Jack is genuinely surprising.
An entertaining and quick read about self-discovery.Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2024
ISBN: 9781454950790
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Union Square & Co.
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
Still, a respectful and absorbing page-turner.
Hannah’s new novel is an homage to the extraordinary courage and endurance of Frenchwomen during World War II.
In 1995, an elderly unnamed widow is moving into an Oregon nursing home on the urging of her controlling son, Julien, a surgeon. This trajectory is interrupted when she receives an invitation to return to France to attend a ceremony honoring passeurs: people who aided the escape of others during the war. Cut to spring, 1940: Viann has said goodbye to husband Antoine, who's off to hold the Maginot line against invading Germans. She returns to tending her small farm, Le Jardin, in the Loire Valley, teaching at the local school and coping with daughter Sophie’s adolescent rebellion. Soon, that world is upended: The Germans march into Paris and refugees flee south, overrunning Viann’s land. Her long-estranged younger sister, Isabelle, who has been kicked out of multiple convent schools, is sent to Le Jardin by Julien, their father in Paris, a drunken, decidedly unpaternal Great War veteran. As the depredations increase in the occupied zone—food rationing, systematic looting, and the billeting of a German officer, Capt. Beck, at Le Jardin—Isabelle’s outspokenness is a liability. She joins the Resistance, volunteering for dangerous duty: shepherding downed Allied airmen across the Pyrenees to Spain. Code-named the Nightingale, Isabelle will rescue many before she's captured. Meanwhile, Viann’s journey from passive to active resistance is less dramatic but no less wrenching. Hannah vividly demonstrates how the Nazis, through starvation, intimidation and barbarity both casual and calculated, demoralized the French, engineering a community collapse that enabled the deportations and deaths of more than 70,000 Jews. Hannah’s proven storytelling skills are ideally suited to depicting such cataclysmic events, but her tendency to sentimentalize undermines the gravitas of this tale.
Still, a respectful and absorbing page-turner.Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-312-57722-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 19, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
This captivating, deeply emotional, and incredibly sexy romance is a balm for the soul.
A blossoming romance infringes on a successful businesswoman's professional aspirations, making her reevaluate her priorities.
At an exclusive party, talent manager Hendrix Barry has an instant connection with billionaire tech mogul Maverick Bell. When he learns that she’s navigating her mother’s Alzheimer's diagnosis, he relates to what she’s going through, having had similar experiences with his grandfather. Maverick makes Hendrix feel seen and understood like no one else, but he’s the recent ex-boyfriend of a woman Hendrix is going into business with as she works toward her goal of executive producing a television show. She tries to set boundaries that would keep him as a friend despite their obvious mutual attraction, but when he expresses interest in her venture capital fund focusing on Black women–led businesses, it leads to spending more time together, and the lines of friendship, business, and pleasure become tangled and blurred. Ryan excels at crafting thoughtful, mature characters who have to manage complicated situations with care and grace. Maverick’s dogged pursuit of Hendrix and the delicious ways he woos her using his wealth and persistence frame him as a determined, headstrong hero. Paired with a weaker heroine, he could have been overbearing, but Hendrix is his perfect match, equally as strong-willed and tenacious. They bring out each other’s softer, more vulnerable sides as well, and both have compassionate hearts. The spicy romance is the core of this satisfying story, but the novel doesn’t shy away from—and is made richer for the inclusion of—hardships like caring for an aging parent and confronting racism in the world of business. The tale also highlights the importance of community and the value of supportive, platonic love through the wonderful cast of side characters.
This captivating, deeply emotional, and incredibly sexy romance is a balm for the soul.Pub Date: May 13, 2025
ISBN: 9781538706855
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
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