Romantic fish-out-of-water debut with a feminist undertone.
Freedom takes many forms for a sheltered young Iranian woman who travels to Tucson, Ariz., in search of a new life—and a husband.
Depressed over the small and restrictive life that awaits her in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 27-year-old Tamila Soroush is stunned and grateful when her loving parents give her a one-way plane ticket to America. They send her to Arizona in the hopes that her pragmatic older sister Maryam will find the pretty former school teacher a suitable Persian husband within the three months allotted by her tourist visa. Once she arrives, Tami experiences wonder over the wide array of choices that American women take for granted, like being able to walk down the street uncovered without fear of arrest. During such a walk, on her way to an English class at the local library, she stops at a Starbucks and catches the eye of Ike, a hunky regular dude working there who is charmed by her naïve ways. She likes him too, but dismisses his advances, knowing they would interfere with her family’s plans for her. Considering romantic love a luxury she cannot afford, Tami indulges her rebellious side by photographing the everyday expressions of freedom that would be unheard of in her homeland. She also meets a series of eligible bachelors, including Haroun, a handsome engineer eager for a wife. That Haroun is also a neurotic germaphobe who insists she undergo a full medical evaluation before he proposes does trouble Tami, but she sees him as a sensible answer to her dilemma. Back at the library, she befriends a predictably lovable group of quirky immigrants, including the German sexpot Eva, courtly older Czech gentleman Josef and pregnant Russian mail-order bride Nadia—whose abusive redneck husband makes nutcase Haroun look like a great catch. With her new friends’ encouragement, Tami finds her confidence and inner strength in the face of the inevitable compromises she believes are necessary for her to fulfill her destiny. This newfound boldness leads to an 11th-hour decision that will either send her straight back to Tehran, or offer an opening for a certain smitten barrista who would do anything for his Persian Princess—if only she would ask.
Romantic fish-out-of-water debut with a feminist undertone.Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2007
ISBN: 0-553-38388-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2006
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
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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