Whimsical and witty comedy of manners.
Four young unmarried sisters set out to capture husbands, thanks to British journalist Saunders (Night Shall Overtake Us, 1994).
Is it possible to be too beautiful? Too talented? Too intelligent? Too—odd? The four Hasty daughters are all that and more, simultaneously blessed and cursed by the genetic gifts of their eccentric sire, a penniless aristocrat who never bothered with petty vulgarities like repairing roofs and paying taxes. That’s why Melismate, the Gloucestershire home of the Hasty family for “nearly a thousand years,” is about to be auctioned off. The family’s dear departed father, known as The Zed, short for “Zeus” for his godlike demeanor (not to mention womanizing), is undoubtedly spinning in his marble sepulcher as the Hastys gather for one last Christmas, shedding exquisite tears and boiling leeks for a paltry soup. No use asking their mother, a faded flower-child of distinctly plebian (a seaside sweetshop) origins for help. Peddling homemade jam in the Cotswolds and pulling pints in the pub isn’t enough. And kind widower neighbor Edward Reculver, a well-born soldier-of-fortune and The Zed’s closest friend, had already loaned vast sums of money to their father, who never paid it back. Though they could always throw themselves on the mercy of their long-suffering nanny, who now rents out rooms in her own house to—shall we say—interesting people, the Hasty girls come to the conclusion that marrying money is the only way to save Melismate from going under the hammer. Never mind love. Rufa, Nancy, Lydia, and Selena have already been grievously disappointed by that illusory concept, thanks to an assortment of ne’er-do-wells and nutcases—exactly what they find this time around.
Whimsical and witty comedy of manners.Pub Date: July 23, 2003
ISBN: 0-312-31043-9
Page Count: 384
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
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
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable...
An unlucky woman finally gets lucky in love on an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii.
From getting her hand stuck in a claw machine at age 6 to losing her job, Olive Torres has never felt that luck was on her side. But her fortune changes when she scores a free vacation after her identical twin sister and new brother-in-law get food poisoning at their wedding buffet and are too sick to go on their honeymoon. The only catch is that she’ll have to share the honeymoon suite with her least favorite person—Ethan Thomas, the brother of the groom. To make matters worse, Olive’s new boss and Ethan’s ex-girlfriend show up in Hawaii, forcing them both to pretend to be newlyweds so they don’t blow their cover, as their all-inclusive vacation package is nontransferable and in her sister’s name. Plus, Ethan really wants to save face in front of his ex. The story is told almost exclusively from Olive’s point of view, filtering all communication through her cynical lens until Ethan can win her over (and finally have his say in the epilogue). To get to the happily-ever-after, Ethan doesn’t have to prove to Olive that he can be a better man, only that he was never the jerk she thought he was—for instance, when she thought he was judging her for eating cheese curds, maybe he was actually thinking of asking her out. Blending witty banter with healthy adult communication, the fake newlyweds have real chemistry as they talk it out over snorkeling trips, couples massages, and a few too many tropical drinks to get to the truth—that they’re crazy about each other.
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable as well as free.Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2803-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
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