A dark, bewitching twist on a classic story.
After her mother dies, a young woman discovers that her stepfather has a secret agenda in the latest installment of Regnery’s (Catching Irish, 2018, etc.) Modern Fairytale series.
Ashley Ellis always had a complicated relationship with her mother, Tig, a supermodel whose career ended due to drug abuse. Through it all, Ashley received support from her godfather, Gus. Shortly after Ashley turns 18, tragedy strikes when Tig dies of a drug overdose. Ashley’s shock turns to fear when her stepfather, Mosier Raumann, the head of a violent crime family, tells her that he plans to marry her—after she graduates from high school. She turns to Gus and his partner, Jock, for help. They send her to Jock’s country house, where she meets their tenant, Julian Ducharmes, a former Secret Service agent who now works as a glassblower. Although he’s initially wary of Ashley, he’s unable to deny his attraction to her, and their cautious friendship soon turns into a passionate romance. While Ashley searches her mother’s diary for clues to her life and death, Gus, Jock, and Julian try to protect her from Mosier and his sons, Anders and Damon. Mosier, however, is determined to find Ashley and make her his wife, and he’ll stop at nothing to achieve his goal. Regnery’s latest series installment offers a contemporary twist on “Cinderella” with dynamic characters and a well-developed romance at its heart. The narrative is anchored by Ashley, who’s shown to be a gentle, devoutly religious young woman whose relationship with her mother was fraught with instability, and the author does a fine job outlining their complex history. Regnery also fully sketches out Julian as he struggles to deal with an error in judgment that ended his Secret Service career. Ashley’s romance with him develops slowly, bolstered by scenes that crackle with erotic tension. The fast-paced chapters alternate between Ashley’s and Julian’s first-person points of view and Tig’s journal entries, providing readers with insight into each character and their motivations.
A dark, bewitching twist on a classic story.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-944810-37-5
Page Count: 358
Publisher: Time Tunnel Media
Review Posted Online: Nov. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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