A gratifying romantic and personal adventure.
In Cook’s debut romance, an experimental sleeping pill allows thrilling, lucid dreams, which upends a married woman’s life.
A month ago, Vanessa “Ness” Brown’s husband, Pete, expressed his desire to start a family, and since then, she’s been in turmoil—as reflected in her terrible anxiety dreams. She notes that having children isn’t an unreasonable notion; she and her husband are both in their early 30s and have a strong three-year marriage. But Ness isn’t interested in children, and she can’t even bear thinking about it, let alone tell Pete. She has an undemanding job as a clinical drug trial assistant in downtown Seattle, and one perk is her daily banter with her handsome, laid-back co-worker Altan Young, on whom she has a “teeny, tiny crush.” She discovers that he’s been stealing leftover capsules of a new sleeping pill, Morpheum; his resulting dreams, he says, are “amazing.” Ness decides to try the drug herself, and she gets a great night’s sleep, complete with a delightful dream. She soon finds Morpheum too wonderful to give up—especially after she and Altan start sharing steamy, adventurous encounters within their dreams. Soon, Ness seeks further escape—which leads her into a nightmare. Cook concocts a fantasy with huge appeal; who wouldn’t want to have adventures where we can be our best selves without boundaries? Even Ness’ terrible mistakes, as the author describes them, seem to be a necessary part of her journey. The characterization falters somewhat due to Ness’ insufficiently explained feelings of shame, and Pete doesn’t seem to deserve her harsh treatment. She won’t even tell him about her desire to become a photographer; her justification is that “it felt wrong to want something other than” Pete. Meanwhile, her relationship with Altan seems effortless thanks to the dreams’ “mind meld”; a real-life relationship could never compete. The whole story feels a bit like a wish-fulfilling reverie—but it’s a well-written one, and readers will be glad about a promised sequel.
A gratifying romantic and personal adventure.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-73299-841-4
Page Count: 310
Publisher: Brass Anvil Books
Review Posted Online: March 7, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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