Moyes has mastered the art of likable, not terribly memorable, but far from simple-minded storytelling.
Popular British author Moyes (The Girl You Left Behind, 2013, etc.) offers another warmhearted, off-kilter romance, this one between a financially strapped single mother and a geeky tech millionaire.
Ten years ago, Jess Thomas got pregnant and dropped out of high school to marry Marty. Two years ago, hapless Marty temporarily moved out of their home on the southern coast of England to sort out his life. He never returned. Cleaning houses by day and working in a pub at night, Jess barely earns enough to support her 10-year-old daughter, Tanzie, and her 16-year-old stepson, Nicky, whom she’s been raising since he was 8. Jess worries constantly about sensitive Nicky, a moody goth regularly beaten up by the local bully. Math genius Tanzie presents a different crisis: She’s been offered a generous scholarship to a private school her current teachers say she needs, and Jess can’t come up with the balance. The only hope is winning prize money at a math tournament in Scotland, but how to get there? Meanwhile, one of Jess’ cleaning clients, computer whiz Ed Nicholls, has come to stay in his seaside vacation home to avoid publicity surrounding insider trading charges. He and Jess share an instant mutual dislike, but when he ends up drunk at the pub, Jess makes sure he gets home safely. Partly out of gratitude, but largely to escape pressure from lawyers, his ex-wife and his sister—who’s nagging him to attend his father’s birthday party—Ed offers to drive Jess, her kids and their large dog to Scotland. A road-trip-from-hell romantic comedy ensues, complete with carsickness, bad meals and missed signals. Unsurprisingly, hostility evolves into mutual attraction. But Moyes throws in a few wrenches, like Tanzie’s failure at the competition, Ed’s father’s cancer and the cash Jess has secretly kept since it fell out of Ed’s pocket at the pub that first night.
Moyes has mastered the art of likable, not terribly memorable, but far from simple-minded storytelling.Pub Date: July 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-525-42658-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Pamela Dorman/Viking
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2014
PROFILES
Classic Macomber, which will please fans and keep them coming back for more.
Jo Marie Rose continues to harbor struggling guests in her Cedar Cove inn while she works through her own grief.
After learning of her husband’s death in Afghanistan, Jo Marie bought a B&B in Cedar Cove and christened it The Inn at Rose Harbor. Settling into the charming community, becoming a first-class baker, and opening her home and her heart to guests have contributed to her own healing process, and she always feels especially connected to guests who are working through their own issues. She believes that the inn and the town offer sanctuary to anyone who needs it and is gratified when visitors seem buoyed by them. It’s spring in Cedar Cove, and guests to the inn include Annie, a young woman who has recently broken off her flawed engagement, and Mary, who is fighting cancer and wants a last glimpse of Seattle and some important people who live there, including George, the only man she ever loved. As for Jo Marie, she has a few concerns this season, including the ornery handyman she works with and some difficult news regarding the husband she still mourns. Each woman will find strength and refuge in facing painful aspects of their pasts, and romance is in the air for Annie from the least expected direction. Mary faces an uncertain future but is heartened by some long-hoped-for reconciliations. And Jo Marie still finds peace in her home and business, even if her personal life lacks resolution. In the second of Macomber’s Rose Harbor series, readers will find the emotionally impactful storylines and sweet, redemptive character arcs for which the author is famous.
Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-345-52893-3
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2013
For Coulter's sizable following (The Heiress Bride, etc. etc.): a blast-off for a new Regency trilogy involving romance and a trace of mystery. Josephina, dubbed "Duchess" at an early age because of her cool aloofness—the result of learning, at the age of nine, that she's a bastard—is the by-blow of the Earl of Chase and a lovely mother ensconced in a nearby cottage. Duchess is raised in Chase Park and, after the deaths of her mother and the Earl, spirits herself off with a huge servant named Badger to the cottage, where she supports herself in a mysterious fashion. Meanwhile, the new Earl, Marcus Wyndham, learns—to his horror—that Duchess's father, who married her mother at last, has left all to his daughter, who now has the problem of restoring the inheritance and pride to handsome Marcus. The answer, of course, is to trick him into marriage—and bed. While this venerable and favorite feature of the romantic novel—spouse-seduction—is oozing on, a group of cousins troop in from the Colonies, including vigorous widower Trevor, who, like others in the family, is intrigued by rumors of a buried treasure on the premises. Before that's discovered, though, there'll be some near-fatal attempts on the Duchess's life and an escape from a murderer—who's bound to resurface in future volumes. Coulter seems to have hit a popular vein between the more elegant Regency romances (with period diction) of, say, Patricia Veryan, and the squashiest of the paperback palpitators. A quick circulator.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-399-13878-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1993
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