A long but laudable tale that deftly blends a love story with all the goodies of crime fiction.
A debut thriller tells the story of a young couple in the 1960s whose romance inadvertently stirs up an unsavory past and a few dangerous individuals.
Derbyshire, England, native Helen Farrington’s shocked one morning to find her nearly 17-year-old daughter Rachael’s bedroom empty. The girl’s sudden departure surprises Helen. In a note to her parents, Rachael mentions her boyfriend, Jason Beauvale. The teens have been together for two years, and Helen’s never bothered to disguise her disapproval. Despite rumors that Jason’s flirting with other girls, he and Rachael grow closer, and marriage possibilities ultimately prompt delving into his past. Jason and his mom, Rebecca, are well-off thanks to his dad, Jonathan Douglas MacIntyre, who pilfered funds from and incited unscrupulous types, known collectively as the Syndicate. Jonathan’s now missing and probably dead, while mom and son have hidden under various surnames for years. But when Jason searches for a saintly cop he befriended as a boy, the Syndicate takes notice and sets about getting its fortune back. This begins as a stranger in a black coat, who spooks Rachael when she realizes he’s following her, but soon escalates into more serious affairs: intimidation, kidnapping, and even murder. Moulton’s story, despite its epic length, is relatively simple, devoting its first half to its teen characters in love. There are several baddies in the tense latter half, but they’re clearly being directed by a single person, whose Syndicate membership is a surprise reveal later. Still, the author forges riveting back stories: Jonathan’s coded diary promises to divulge details about the Syndicate, and Helen’s childhood trauma may explain why she has such an aversion for Jason. There’s occasional repetition (“Let it go” is a popular expression among the characters) but also smart, effervescent prose, like Helen’s temper depicted as “tension in her face” and a “tightly held steam iron.”
A long but laudable tale that deftly blends a love story with all the goodies of crime fiction.Pub Date: Aug. 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4917-7149-5
Page Count: 738
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable...
An unlucky woman finally gets lucky in love on an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii.
From getting her hand stuck in a claw machine at age 6 to losing her job, Olive Torres has never felt that luck was on her side. But her fortune changes when she scores a free vacation after her identical twin sister and new brother-in-law get food poisoning at their wedding buffet and are too sick to go on their honeymoon. The only catch is that she’ll have to share the honeymoon suite with her least favorite person—Ethan Thomas, the brother of the groom. To make matters worse, Olive’s new boss and Ethan’s ex-girlfriend show up in Hawaii, forcing them both to pretend to be newlyweds so they don’t blow their cover, as their all-inclusive vacation package is nontransferable and in her sister’s name. Plus, Ethan really wants to save face in front of his ex. The story is told almost exclusively from Olive’s point of view, filtering all communication through her cynical lens until Ethan can win her over (and finally have his say in the epilogue). To get to the happily-ever-after, Ethan doesn’t have to prove to Olive that he can be a better man, only that he was never the jerk she thought he was—for instance, when she thought he was judging her for eating cheese curds, maybe he was actually thinking of asking her out. Blending witty banter with healthy adult communication, the fake newlyweds have real chemistry as they talk it out over snorkeling trips, couples massages, and a few too many tropical drinks to get to the truth—that they’re crazy about each other.
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable as well as free.Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2803-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
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