An absorbing read from a novelist at the top of her game.
A young woman must choose between loyalty to her father and loyalty to her husband, but she decides not to be a pawn in men’s power games anymore.
Miss Margot Armstrong was just a boy-crazy teenager when her father announced his intention to marry her off to the Scottish Chieftan, Arran Mackenzie. Both Arran and her father would gain political influence from the alliance, and nothing Margot said could sway her father. After all, as Margot knew all too well, “women existed to be bedded and impregnated.” But after a few disastrous months as Arran’s wife, living on his isolated estate with no one but his unfriendly clan for company, Margot fled back to her father’s estate in the north of England. She spent three empty years going to parties and gambling until the political machinery of the early 18th century churned again, and once again Margot was caught in the middle. Her father ordered her back to Scotland, this time to determine whether Arran was plotting against the English crown. But instead of the indifferent husband she expected to find there, Margot soon realized that Arran was just as confused about their union as she was, just as much a victim of her father’s political machinations. London’s (Suddenly Dating, 2016, etc.) new Highland Grooms series will be well worth following if this first novel is any indication; she achieves something very difficult in a genre that often follows a formula—a suspenseful plot with an unpredictable conclusion. Both Margot and Arran grow as people during the course of the story and learn to build a marriage on something more than noble titles and valuable land.
An absorbing read from a novelist at the top of her game.Pub Date: Dec. 27, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-373-78966-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Harlequin HQN
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2016
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Nerve-wracking suspense leavened with romance and spiced with sex: another hit for the prolific Roberts (Blue Smoke, 2005,...
Murder mixes with anguish in steamy Savannah.
FBI-trained hostage negotiator Phoebe MacNamara is a lieutenant in the Savannah police department. Ever since Phoebe and her family were held hostage when she was 12, her mother has been agoraphobic, and Phoebe and her brother Carter still bear the psychological scars, but Phoebe’s used the memory to hone her skills. While talking a suicidal bartender off a ledge, she meets his boss, Duncan Swift. The charming millionaire coaxes her into meeting for a drink, and their relationship slowly deepens. But life takes a turn for the worse when a misogynist cop botches a hostage situation. Suspended, he blames Phoebe and retaliates by viciously attacking her in the precinct house stairwell. He loses his job, but his father’s connections keep him out of jail. Phoebe is physically and mentally injured, but her family and her blossoming relationship with Duncan help her cope until a dangerous pattern develops: A strange man keeps crossing her path. Dead animals begin appearing on her doorstep. A hostage taker is shot after she talks him into surrendering. Her ex-husband is brutally murdered by the mystery man, who phones her with sadistic threats. Is it the spiteful disgraced cop or someone from her past? Phoebe must identify the killer before he can carry out his final outrage.
Nerve-wracking suspense leavened with romance and spiced with sex: another hit for the prolific Roberts (Blue Smoke, 2005, etc.).Pub Date: July 10, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-399-15434-8
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2007
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