by Judith Donato ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 18, 2012
A comical, believable story of how a couple can unravel simply by wanting to protect each other.
Donato’s novel tells a familiar tale of a marriage’s wear and tear, but it’s packed with surprising twists.
Most marriages reach a tepid phase as the nest empties, and Kate McAllister’s is no exception. Her husband, Michael, a reliable provider and dependable husband, has stood beside her as their two children grew from infancy to early adulthood. Now, as their home seems emptier, Michael seems less loving, something that Kate accepts as a passing phase in their new stage of life. That is, until Michael murmurs another woman’s name in his sleep. The name Marilyn, a name Kate cannot recall hearing from Michael in any other context, suddenly appears everywhere. Kate finds her business card—with an incriminating handwritten message scrawled across it—tucked into Michael’s pant pocket. Kate soon discovers that Marilyn Campbell is, in fact, an ambitious and beautiful woman determined to get what she wants. Kate grows increasingly suspicious about her husband. When the beautiful Marilyn shows up at Kate’s office unexpectedly, bearing a tightly sealed envelope for Michael, Kate’s paranoia overwhelms her, and she opens it. What she discovers confirms her worst suspicions, and it triggers a quest for truth that has Kate digging into every private corner of Michael’s life. As Thanksgiving approaches, bringing with it Kate’s traditional dinner for more than 20 people, the tension escalates, and her marriage seems harder and harder to salvage. Fast-paced and highly readable, Kate’s story is one that is not only sympathetic, but packed with its own surprises as well. How well does anyone know his or her spouse? How does one walk a line between sharing hard secrets and not wanting to disappoint the other person? All of this is explored as the characters maneuver life as best they can, creating further misunderstandings as they try to make their way back to each other.
A comical, believable story of how a couple can unravel simply by wanting to protect each other.Pub Date: Dec. 18, 2012
ISBN: 978-0615639734
Page Count: 344
Publisher: Devon Grove Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
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
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2008
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of...
Lifelong, conflicted friendship of two women is the premise of Hannah’s maudlin latest (Magic Hour, 2006, etc.), again set in Washington State.
Tallulah “Tully” Hart, father unknown, is the daughter of a hippie, Cloud, who makes only intermittent appearances in her life. Tully takes refuge with the family of her “best friend forever,” Kate Mularkey, who compares herself unfavorably with Tully, in regards to looks and charisma. In college, “TullyandKate” pledge the same sorority and major in communications. Tully has a life goal for them both: They will become network TV anchorwomen. Tully lands an internship at KCPO-TV in Seattle and finagles a producing job for Kate. Kate no longer wishes to follow Tully into broadcasting and is more drawn to fiction writing, but she hesitates to tell her overbearing friend. Meanwhile a love triangle blooms at KCPO: Hard-bitten, irresistibly handsome, former war correspondent Johnny is clearly smitten with Tully. Expecting rejection, Kate keeps her infatuation with Johnny secret. When Tully lands a reporting job with a Today-like show, her career shifts into hyperdrive. Johnny and Kate had started an affair once Tully moved to Manhattan, and when Kate gets pregnant with daughter Marah, they marry. Kate is content as a stay-at-home mom, but frets about being Johnny’s second choice and about her unrealized writing ambitions. Tully becomes Seattle’s answer to Oprah. She hires Johnny, which spells riches for him and Kate. But Kate’s buttons are fully depressed by pitched battles over slutwear and curfews with teenaged Marah, who idolizes her godmother Tully. In an improbable twist, Tully invites Kate and Marah to resolve their differences on her show, only to blindside Kate by accusing her, on live TV, of overprotecting Marah. The BFFs are sundered. Tully’s latest attempt to salvage Cloud fails: The incorrigible, now geriatric hippie absconds once more. Just as Kate develops a spine, she’s given some devastating news. Will the friends reconcile before it’s too late?
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of poignancy.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-36408-3
Page Count: 496
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007
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