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FIRE IS YOUR WATER

A compassionate exploration of faith and doubt and a tender (if slightly sentimental) portrait of young love.

A young faith healer and a nonbeliever embark on an unlikely romance.

Twenty-year-old Ada Franklin has long been known in her rural Pennsylvania community for using sacred chants and Bible verses to heal the sick. But after a fire destroys her family’s barn, Ada loses her ability to “powwow” and begins to question her faith. She works at a Howard Johnson’s in the Blue Mountain Service Plaza, and it’s there that she meets Will Burk, a recent high school grad and committed nonbeliever who pumps gas at the neighboring Esso. Will spends much of his free time rehabilitating an injured raven, Cicero, a preternaturally gifted bird who learns tricks and sometimes even manages to say a few words. Set in 1953, Minick’s (The Blueberry Years, 2010, etc.) coming-of-age novel is poignant throughout. The supporting players are as caringly drawn as the protagonists, including an endearing troupe of gas station attendants and HoJo’s servers and the pleasantly sane adults in Ada's and Will’s lives. The bond between Will and Cicero is also lovingly rendered, though Minick’s decision to allow Cicero to interrupt the third-person narration every few chapters with commentary of his own is something of a misfire given the bird’s propensity for cutesiness. (“Mmm-mm,” Cicero says on the topic of burger meat. “Makes my beak click just talking about it.”) The final third of the book, in which a shocking accident befalls an important character, occasionally veers toward the treacly, but readers may not mind much given the fully realized relationship at the novel’s core.

A compassionate exploration of faith and doubt and a tender (if slightly sentimental) portrait of young love.

Pub Date: March 15, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-8040-1184-6

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Swallow Press/Ohio Univ.

Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2017

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THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE

Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.

Life lessons.

Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.

Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.

Pub Date: July 1, 2004

ISBN: 0-345-46750-7

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004

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MAGIC HOUR

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.

Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

Pub Date: March 1, 2006

ISBN: 0-345-46752-3

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005

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