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
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her...
Another middle-aged mom in a muddle.
After years of false starts and big hopes, Elizabeth’s ruggedly handsome husband Jack, a former football star, just landed a spot as a sportscaster on national news. He still loves her, even though much younger women are giving him come-hither looks. Heck, he doesn’t want to betray the love of his life after she helped him kick drugs and stuck by him even when he was a struggling has-been. And won’t it seem hypocritical if he fools around with his sexy assistant while he does in-depth reporting on a rape case involving a famous basketball center? Well, he fools around anyway. Elizabeth, nicknamed Birdie, knows nothing of this, but she withdraws from Jack when her hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth father has a stroke and dies. Now no one will call her “sugar beet” ever again. Time to return home to Tennessee and contend with Anita, the sort-of-evil stepmother so trashy she wears pink puffy slippers all day long. Naturally, it turns out that Anita actually has a heart of gold and knows a few things about Birdie’s dead mother that were hushed up for years. Mom was an artist, just like Birdie, and an old scandal comes to light as Anita unrolls a vibrant canvas that portrays her secret lover. Perhaps, Birdie muses, her mother died of heartbreak, never having followed her true love or developed her talent. Has she, too, compromised everything she holds dear? Hoping to find out, Birdie joins a support group that promises to reconnect confused women with their passion. She and Jack separate, prompting a how-dare-you fit from their grown daughters. Will Birdie fly her empty nest? Will she go back to college for a degree in art? Will her brooding watercolors ever sell?
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her previous tales (Summer Island, 2001, etc.).Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-345-45071-X
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2002
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
© 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.
