Bodice-ripping romance is coupled with all the suspense of a Scooby-Doo episode.
The third in bestselling Deveraux’s Edilean series (Days of Gold, 2009, etc.) offers a dashing detective, a spunky heroine and a town with old secrets.
Sara Shaw is about to marry outsider Greg Anders, even though the whole town of Edilean, Va., distrusts the man. Luckily the FBI and Florida undercover detective Mike Newland is on the case. It happens that the townspeople are right in their suspicions: Greg Anders, aka Stefan Vandlo, is a murderous con man who works with his equally notorious mother Mitzi. Law enforcement knows that Greg/Stefan is marrying Sara for some large monetary gain, but no one can figure out what it could be. Mike’s baby sister Tess is best friends with Sara, and while Tess is honeymooning in Italy, Mike arranges to stay at Tess’ apartment with Sara, while Greg is “away” (actually the Feds threw him in the slammer on trumped-up charges so Mike can begin the investigation). Initially Sara despises Mike, but he soon charms her, as he’s charmed the rest of the town. There is danger, and a lot of romance; Sara favors ladylike dresses and Mike swings down from ropes to save her. Mike eventually reveals to Sara the truth of his presence in Edilean, but by the time she learns Greg is really murdering Stefan, she’s fallen for Mike. Sara and Mike begin to realize that everything points to the ownership of Brewster Lang’s farm. Greg had desperately wanted it, but Tess has instead (through her husband’s estate) gotten Mike a lifetime lease on the place. What is it about the farm? It’s not the few pot plants old man Lang grows, it’s not the historic buildings—could it be the Federalist tea set? Mike convinces Sara they need to marry for her protection (but could the hardened Mike also be in love with Sara?). In wedded bliss they are ready for the return of sociopathic Greg.
Bodice-ripping romance is coupled with all the suspense of a Scooby-Doo episode.Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4391-0797-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2010
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.
A promise to his best friend leads an Army serviceman to a family in need and a chance at true love in this novel.
Beckett Gentry is surprised when his Army buddy Ryan MacKenzie gives him a letter from Ryan’s sister, Ella. Abandoned by his mother, Beckett grew up in a series of foster homes. He is wary of attachments until he reads Ella’s letter. A single mother, Ella lives with her twins, Maisie and Colt, at Solitude, the resort she operates in Telluride, Colorado. They begin a correspondence, although Beckett can only identify himself by his call sign, Chaos. After Ryan’s death during a mission, Beckett travels to Telluride as his friend had requested. He bonds with the twins while falling deeply in love with Ella. Reluctant to reveal details of Ryan’s death and risk causing her pain, Beckett declines to disclose to Ella that he is Chaos. Maisie needs treatment for neuroblastoma, and Beckett formally adopts the twins as a sign of his commitment to support Ella and her children. He and Ella pursue a romance, but when an insurance investigator questions the adoption, Beckett is faced with revealing the truth about the letters and Ryan’s death, risking losing the family he loves. Yarros’ (Wilder, 2016, etc.) novel is a deeply felt and emotionally nuanced contemporary romance bolstered by well-drawn characters and strong, confident storytelling. Beckett and Ella are sympathetic protagonists whose past experiences leave them cautious when it comes to love. Beckett never knew the security of a stable home life. Ella impulsively married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended when he discovered she was pregnant. The author is especially adept at developing the characters through subtle but significant details, like Beckett’s aversion to swearing. Beckett and Ella’s romance unfolds slowly in chapters that alternate between their first-person viewpoints. The letters they exchanged are pivotal to their connection, and almost every chapter opens with one. Yarros’ writing is crisp and sharp, with passages that are poetic without being florid. For example, in a letter to Beckett, Ella writes of motherhood: “But I’m not the center of their universe. I’m more like their gravity.” While the love story is the book’s focus, the subplot involving Maisie’s illness is equally well-developed, and the link between Beckett and the twins is heartfelt and sincere.
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-533-3
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Jan. 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
To her usual mix of love, mystery, and passion, Roberts (Sanctuary, 1997, etc.)—author of 115 romancers in some 17 years—adds Renaissance art and a decidedly Medici-like family: the Joneses of Maine. Dr. Miranda Jones, nearly six feet with flaming red hair and a glacial reserve, is an archeometrist who specializes in the analyzing and dating of Renaissance bronze sculpture. Miranda hopes to secure a world-class reputation for herself by authenticating a 15th-century statue of the Dark Lady, one of the mistresses of Lorenzo the Magnificent, as the undiscovered work of a young Michelangelo. Miranda's mother, Dr. Elizabeth Standford-Jones, the emotionally remote director of the Standjo art lab in Florence, has summoned her daughter from the family's Victorian cliffside home in Jones Point, Maine, to test the statue. Meanwhile, Miranda's father, equally remote, is an archaeologist who spends more time at his digs than at home. In fact, no one in the Jones family has made a successful run at marriage, a failure that Miranda and her alcoholic brother Andrew call the Jones curse. As for the statue, when it's discovered to be a fake, Miranda sets out to prove that someone stole the original. In this she's helped by gorgeous art thief Ryan Boldari (half-Italian, half-Irish), who's come to Jones Point to steal yet another bronze, which also turns out to be a forgery. Ryan's plan had been to use Miranda as a pawn, but now, naturally, he finds himself falling hard for her. While the two search for bronzes, a standard-issue romance-novel psychotic is stalking them. Most readers will twig to the killer's identity: Here, as always, Roberts's sexual tension is more compelling than her suspense. Perhaps it's time to take a sabbatical from the pink sweatshop and turn her considerable wit and narrative skills to a more original piece of work.
Pub Date: March 23, 1998
ISBN: 0-399-14387-4
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1998
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
