When Peyton Lockhart and her sisters agree to reboot their uncle’s Florida resort, troubles arise from all quarters, putting Peyton in danger and bringing childhood protector Finn MacBain to her side.
Peyton should have known that landing a job as a food critic for a major foodie magazine with no experience was too good to be true, but she never expected she’d be harassed and threatened by her new employer. After driving from Texas to Minnesota for the opportunity, it’s not too long before she can’t get out of there fast enough. Not long after, their uncle offers Peyton and her sisters the opportunity to work at his resort, supervising a major renovation and planning a grand re-opening, with the possibility of taking over ownership at the end of the project. It’s an offer they can’t refuse and one Peyton is especially grateful for, given the stress of her recent employment fiasco. But when they get to the resort in Florida, it becomes clear that someone is out to get Peyton and is sabotaging the resort renovation. Could it be their greedy, self-serving cousin? Or could it be someone from the magazine, exacting revenge for her sexual harassment lawsuit? Whoever it is, Peyton is in danger, and when she runs into Finn MacBain—the boy-next-door hero who saved her life when she was a little girl and is now an FBI agent—he decides to look into the matter. Finn is larger than life and has always been too old for Peyton, but she’s all grown up now, and when they reconnect, sparks fly. She knows his interest is fleeting (he’s a no-commitment kind of guy) but she’ll take his help with gratitude and nurse her broken heart when it’s over. If she can stay alive. Legendary romance author Garwood delivers a novel that is at times clever, original and sigh-worthy, at other moments, silly and simplistic. Fans of romance and especially Garwood will find glimpses of her brilliance, but elements of the suspense, plot and characterization are sprawling, disjointed and disappointing.
Uneven and oddly framed, though true believers will find enough Garwood in here to keep them satisfied.
Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-525-95301-2
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2013
Entertaining and thoroughly engrossing.
Another reboot of Jane Austen?!? Hadlow pulls it off in a smart, heartfelt novel devoted to bookish Mary, middle of the five sisters in Pride and Prejudice.
Part 1 recaps Pride and Prejudice through Mary’s eyes, climaxing with the humiliating moment when she sings poorly at a party and older sister Elizabeth goads their father to cut her off in front of everyone. The sisters’ friend Charlotte, who marries the unctuous Mr. Collins after Elizabeth rejects him, emerges as a pivotal character; her conversations with Mary are even tougher-minded here than those with Elizabeth depicted by Austen. In Part 2, two years later, Mary observes on a visit that Charlotte is deferential but remote with her husband; she forms an intellectual friendship with the neglected and surprisingly nice Mr. Collins that leads to Charlotte’s asking Mary to leave. In Part 3, Mary finds refuge in London with her kindly aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner. Mrs. Gardiner is the second motherly woman, after Longbourn housekeeper Mrs. Hill, to try to undo the psychic damage wrought by Mary’s actual mother, shallow, status-obsessed Mrs. Bennet, by building up her confidence and buying her some nice clothes (funded by guilt-ridden Lizzy). Sure enough, two suitors appear: Tom Hayward, a poetry-loving lawyer who relishes Mary’s intellect but urges her to also express her feelings; and William Ryder, charming but feckless inheritor of a large fortune, whom naturally Mrs. Bennet loudly favors. It takes some maneuvering to orchestrate the estrangement of Mary and Tom, so clearly right for each other, but debut novelist Hadlow manages it with aplomb in a bravura passage describing a walking tour of the Lake District rife with seething complications furthered by odious Caroline Bingley. Her comeuppance at Mary’s hands marks the welcome final step in our heroine’s transformation from a self-doubting wallflower to a vibrant, self-assured woman who deserves her happy ending. Hadlow traces that progression with sensitivity, emotional clarity, and a quiet edge of social criticism Austen would have relished.
Entertaining and thoroughly engrossing.Pub Date: March 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-12941-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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