An easy, sweet read for people who like happy endings.
Running the bagel shop he co-owns with his father keeps Josh Goldberg busy, but he feels restless and constrained by the lack of dating prospects on tiny Hartsbridge Island. Could wounded veteran Michael Baldwin be the something more he's been looking for?
Returning home from military service after having been shot would be hard for Michael even if he weren't juggling PTSD, speech problems, and his family's political aspirations. Growing up in the public eye, he's used to living in the closet, with brief forays into anonymous sex with strangers in bars. He spent most of his life doing what his politically ambitious parents expected him to, until he joined the Air Force as a way of reclaiming his identity. After being shot, he was isolated in rehab away from them, but a return to civilian life means that he must relearn to deal with his family. Luckily, he has Kaylee, a service dog trained to keep him safe and help him cope with panic. Josh is attracted to Michael as soon as he sees him, but he doesn't know if Michael is single or gay. His instant crush slowly evolves into a friendship based on understanding, mutual respect, and desire. Together, the two men learn to navigate their ways through faulty communication, self-esteem issues, and very difficult family situations. But when a candid photo threatens to out Michael, will they be able to weather the storm? Ultimately, there isn't a lot of suspense in this story, but it's worth reading for the slow build, the yummy descriptions of breakfast food, and the sweet flirtation that unfolds between Michael and Josh. The characters are all funny and likable, and if there's room for more nuance and development, well…there's nothing wrong with a bit of fluff either.
An easy, sweet read for people who like happy endings.Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-62649-464-0
Page Count: 312
Publisher: Riptide
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
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
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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