A pleasant enough tale of a middle-aged woman discovering herself, though some moments leave a sour taste.
In Kennedy’s (Surf Shop Sisters, 2016, etc.) romance, an unhappy housewife embarks on a charged affair with a younger man, with unexpected consequences.
Barbie Bentley seemingly has a pretty nice life, with two well-adjusted kids, a successful husband, and a lovely home in an exclusive Florida community. Yet, as is often the case, outward signs of happiness mask inner discontent. Barbie’s husband, Bud, is distant and insensitive; their sex life, which was never great, is now on life support. Then Barbie meets Nick, a “young Greek god,” on the campus of the local community college, where she’s taking classes. Sparks fly and soon she and Nick are sneaking off for a clandestine rendezvous. Cheating isn’t the only way Barbie betrays Bud. When her friend Frances gets an eviction notice, Barbie agrees to help fight developers intent on turning a trailer park into pricey condos. The only problem? Bud is the contractor for the redevelopment project. As her romance with Nick gets more complicated and the trailer park fight turns ugly, Barbie must make tough decisions about what she values most. Kennedy’s latest outing is a fun romance with a serious core, as she explores what makes a relationship work (or not) and why people choose to stay together. The put-upon Barbie will be a relatable heroine to anyone whose feelings are overlooked or ignored, and readers will enjoy watching her take charge of her own life, even if she makes some mistakes along the way. Meanwhile, breezy dialogue and dramatic twists keep the story humming along. Unfortunately, its handling of issues of race and sexual orientation is clumsy at best; a lesbian character and a Hispanic gardener, for example, are jumbles of stereotypes. In one particularly tone-deaf scene, a character declares of a biracial man, “I think it’s really fly Noah is an Oreo….that means our children will be light enough to pass if they want to.” Minor but easily avoidable errors, such as the repeated misspelling of poet T.S. Eliot’s name, also distract.
A pleasant enough tale of a middle-aged woman discovering herself, though some moments leave a sour taste.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Fire and Ice, Melange Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship.
A battered girl and an injured rugby star spark up an ill-advised romance at an Irish secondary school.
Beautiful, waiflike, 15-year-old Shannon has lived her entire life in Ballylaggin. Alternately bullied at school and beaten by her ne’er-do-well father, she’s hopeful for a fresh start at Tommen, a private school. Seventeen-year-old Johnny, who has a hair-trigger temper and a severe groin injury, is used to Dublin’s elite-level rugby but, since his family’s move to County Cork, is now stuck captaining Tommen’s middling team. When Johnny angrily kicks a ball and knocks Shannon unconscious (“a soft female groan came from her lips”), a tentative relationship is born. As the two grow closer, Johnny’s past and Shannon’s present become serious obstacles to their budding love, threatening Shannon’s safety. Shannon’s portrayal feels infantilized (“I looked down at the tiny little female under my arm”), while Johnny comes across as borderline obsessive (“I knew I shouldn’t be touching her, but how the hell could I not?”). Uneven pacing and choppy sentences lead to a sudden climax and an unsatisfyingly abrupt ending. Repetitive descriptions, abundant and misogynistic dialogue (Johnny, to his best friend: “who’s the bitch with a vagina now?”), and graphic violence also weigh down this lengthy tome (considerably trimmed down from its original, self-published length). The cast of lively, well-developed supporting characters, especially Johnny’s best friend and Shannon’s protective older brother, is a bright spot. Major characters read white.
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship. (author’s note, pronunciations, glossary, song moments, playlists) (Romance. 16-18)Pub Date: Nov. 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781728299945
Page Count: 626
Publisher: Bloom Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
Plenty of heat but not enough substance to keep the fire burning.
A romantically entangled stepbrother and stepsister in Los Angeles navigate their tumultuous history and take their relationship to new levels in this translated title by an Argentinian author.
Nick and Noah are madly in love: Their mutual attraction is established as the book opens with Noah’s 18th birthday party, during which she and Nick have an explicitly described sexual encounter behind the pool house. This fiery scene sets the stage for twists and turns in the lovers’ journey, including a separation when Noah is forced to go on a monthlong mother-daughter European tour. But reminders of their pasts (chronicled in the 2023 series opener, My Fault) threaten to undermine their stability. Nick’s wealthy estranged mother makes an unfortunate appearance, while Noah is haunted by the trauma of her father’s violent death. The blend of everyday complications (jealousy, parental disapproval) with frothy visions of high-society life is at once lacking in subtlety and intimately irresistible. The series initially gained popularity on Wattpad, and the novel follows the episodic structure typical of works on that site; sensual encounters occur at reliable intervals. Still, the characters and their milieu feel formulaic, and the writing is stilted. The differences between the two—Nick is five years older and has an office job; Noah has just finished high school—makes their suffocatingly possessive relationship feel particularly squirm-worthy. Nick and Noah and their families read white.
Plenty of heat but not enough substance to keep the fire burning. (Romance. 16-18)Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781728290768
Page Count: 450
Publisher: Bloom Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2023
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