An absorbing, expertly crafted novel highly recommended for anyone who enjoys a passionate love story.
In Zoglman’s debut novel, a young woman reluctantly returns to her small Indiana hometown to clean out her dead parents’ farmhouse only to find herself caught up in a whirlwind romance with the man who broke her heart 13 years earlier.
Despite her desperate efforts to forget, Toni Smythe can’t deal with the painful memories from her past. However, when her parents pass away, she’s forced to move back to her Indiana hometown to sell the property that has been in her family since the 1800s. That week, Trent, Toni’s ex-boyfriend from high school—the man who, before breaking her heart, impregnated her out of wedlock with a child who died right after birth—drives to the farmhouse with many unanswered questions to ask her. Though they don’t know it yet, the two of them were told separate stories as to why the other left, Toni believing Trent didn’t want anything to do with her once he joined the National Guard, and Trent believing Toni had become pregnant with another man’s baby and left town. Now, refusing to repair any relationships from her past, Toni only wants to cut every tie she has with her hometown. As she sorts through family heirlooms and unearths different memories of her family’s heritage, she becomes conflicted about leaving. Matters complicate further as Trent diligently strives to rekindle their lost romance, with Toni realizing that her longing for him will not disappear. The novel’s pacing is fantastic, building tension and page-turning suspense with each chapter. Characterization is shown, not told, with subtle descriptions: “[Toni] grinned as she took a swallow of ice-cold milk and wiped her mouth on the back of her dirty flannel shirtsleeve, and then she grimaced at the coarseness of the action.” The connection between Toni and Trent feels real, and their restrained passion for each other is palpable. Zoglman consistently surprises with riveting plot twists and indulgent, passionate love scenes. The novel becomes much deeper than straightforward romance, with family pride, class issues and deep-rooted secrets fueling the drama as the two lovers try to sort out their complicated past.
An absorbing, expertly crafted novel highly recommended for anyone who enjoys a passionate love story.Pub Date: March 25, 2014
ISBN: 978-1494715311
Page Count: 198
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK TO SCREEN
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