Fine writing and an eye for character can’t make up for this small-scale, small-town drama’s critical lack of purpose.
Good girl from rural Missouri tries to deal with family crisis and nasty mother-in-law. There’s little doubt as to who will win out in the end.
Augustina Fletcher was well on her way out of the burg of Stoic, Mo., one of those fly-buzzed hamlets with an improbable name and a humble air, when a family situation intervened. The graduate degree from Johns Hopkins would have to wait; Augustina moved home after a car accident killed her mother and put her father, a well-respected Methodist minister, in a wheelchair. Some years later, Augustina is engaged to a lawyer from a good Stoic family, but marrying him means acquiring a shrewish and domineering witch of a mother-in-law who’s about one snide remark away from provoking justifiable homicide. The added fuel that brings this simmering pot to a boil is the surprise return of Augustina’s sister Saphi. A classic professional ne’er-do-well, Saphi hits all of her overachieving sibling’s buttons with relentless force, including the few that their well-meaning father hasn’t been hitting himself. The author slowly, carefully delineates the full extent of Augustina’s disappointment at her now-limited life and her inability to fill her mother’s shoes at church. Disappointed or not, Augustina is always a woman to respect. Unfortunately, the story lacks energy, especially when compared to the brash courageousness of the author’s debut, Coffee and Kung Fu (2003). Readers may well be taken with Augustina, not to mention her salty and appealing father, but the story can only drag to its close.
Fine writing and an eye for character can’t make up for this small-scale, small-town drama’s critical lack of purpose.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2006
ISBN: 0-451-21843-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: NAL Accent/Berkley
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
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
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
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