Despite great pacing and well-executed emotional high notes, Shalvis misses the mark in creating authentic, cohesive main...
When Adam, an emotionally wounded veteran, decides to help Holly—the woman he left behind 10 years ago when he enlisted after a local tragedy and found himself in Afghanistan—he opens the door to a future he’s convinced he doesn’t deserve.
Adam Connelly really just wants to be left alone. Still nursing emotional wounds he suffered in battle, as well as guilt over the fatal accident which led him to enlist, the last thing he needs is Holly Reid—the only girl he ever loved and whom he abandoned for her own good—demanding his help to find her father. But, they both know that Holly wouldn’t ask if she weren’t desperate, since she’s made it pretty clear she can’t stand the sight of him after what he did to her. She’s married now, to the guy she hooked up with almost as soon as he left her, so reentering her orbit won’t be particularly risky. Will it? Of course, Holly has her own secrets, and neither time, distance nor antipathy seem to have dulled the raging attraction between the ex-lovers. Holly and Adam must lay themselves bare to one another before they can overcome the emotional ghosts of their individual and shared pasts. Shalvis’ book, the third in her Animal Magnetism series (Animal Attraction, 2011, etc.), contains many of the things Shalvis is known for: great dialogue, smooth writing and compelling pacing. However, something goes awry in this book. Adam’s emotional arc is fickle. The character tells himself he doesn’t want to get involved, that he’ll only wind up hurting Holly—but then seduces her with a sweet wistfulness that seems at odds with his professed intentions and his angry, wounded persona. Holly claims strength as a guiding principal but represents the quality in unsettling, implausible ways. Intentions and motivations continually shift; at times they seem inauthentic, at other times simply unconvincing.
Despite great pacing and well-executed emotional high notes, Shalvis misses the mark in creating authentic, cohesive main characters, undermining the overall success of the book.Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-425-25581-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2012
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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