James’ trademark mix of bright humor, emotional perceptiveness, and sizzling sexual tension make this a radiant winner.
After a scary break-in, divorce attorney Victoria Slade rents a new condo, but that doesn’t stop her panic attacks—and it brings complications in the form of a sexy neighbor.
After years watching marriages come to harsh endings as a successful divorce lawyer, Victoria has concluded that happily-ever-after doesn’t exist. She makes good money and has a nice life, great friends, and the occasional fling, so being single’s no hardship. When a violent home invasion forces her into a rented condo and brings on a spate of panic attacks, though, Victoria goes into therapy, then meets her sexy neighbor Ford Dixon, who comes across as an arrogant player. But her opinion of him changes when she meets his sister, a struggling single mom, and agrees to help her find her daughter's father and get financial support for the girl. Ford, it turns out, is an investigative reporter, and the two join forces to track down the missing parent. It’s clear they share an intense chemistry, but discovering she likes him is a surprise to Victoria. They're both confident, successful people, neither of whom believes in love or commitment, so it makes sense they’d have an affair, but when her attraction kindles into something more, Victoria can’t reconcile her distrust of relationships with what she’s beginning to want with Ford. When her panic attacks increase, she chooses to break it off with him rather than face her fear of commitment and the uncharacteristic uncertainty that’s become part of her life. Unused to confronting problems she doesn’t know how to solve, Victoria must decide if her unattached life is really all she wants or if Ford is worth fighting for. Known for smart characters and witty banter, James maintains intensity and high emotional stakes even as, for the second time, she moves beyond her typical suspense subplot, incorporating a psychological rather than physical sense of danger.
James’ trademark mix of bright humor, emotional perceptiveness, and sizzling sexual tension make this a radiant winner.Pub Date: June 2, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-425-27376-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Jove/Penguin
Review Posted Online: April 1, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2015
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
BOOK TO SCREEN
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.
