A spellbinding, sizzling romance.
A Victorian-era cabaret dancer inherits part of a well-regarded London repertory theater, but the viscount whose family owns the other half of the business is her estranged former lover.
When the American performer Lola Valentine inherits her mentor’s share of the Imperial Theater, she travels across the ocean prepared to do battle. The other half of the Imperial is owned by the Earl Conyers, but the Earl’s business affairs are managed by his son, Denys, Lord Somerton, Lola’s former lover. Lola refuses his offer to buy her out of the Imperial. She’s hoping this inheritance will give her the chance she’s been waiting for to stop doing sexy music hall performances and begin a career as a serious actress. Meanwhile, Denys is now a sober businessman. He’s very different from the wild youth who once hung around Lola’s dressing rooms in London and Paris, when “Lola had visited upon Denys a sort of insanity—a passion beyond all reason.” His family, especially, is glad that Denys is taking his responsibilities as the heir to an earldom seriously and courting an eligible young lady. But Lola’s arrival turns Denys’ life upside down again. After their initial battles, Denys and Lola achieve a tentative peace and begin to look to the future of the Imperial Theater. But their ongoing attraction makes it hard to keep their conversations strictly about business. The fourth installment in Guhrke's An American Heiress in London series (Catch a Falling Heiress, 2015, etc.) has a strong plot that centers on more than just romance. The characters' back stories are gradually revealed as the novel progresses, drawing the reader along. Lola and Denys have hurt each other terribly, and their reconciliation has all the fireworks a reader could wish for.
A spellbinding, sizzling romance.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-233467-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 9, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
Nerve-wracking suspense leavened with romance and spiced with sex: another hit for the prolific Roberts (Blue Smoke, 2005,...
Murder mixes with anguish in steamy Savannah.
FBI-trained hostage negotiator Phoebe MacNamara is a lieutenant in the Savannah police department. Ever since Phoebe and her family were held hostage when she was 12, her mother has been agoraphobic, and Phoebe and her brother Carter still bear the psychological scars, but Phoebe’s used the memory to hone her skills. While talking a suicidal bartender off a ledge, she meets his boss, Duncan Swift. The charming millionaire coaxes her into meeting for a drink, and their relationship slowly deepens. But life takes a turn for the worse when a misogynist cop botches a hostage situation. Suspended, he blames Phoebe and retaliates by viciously attacking her in the precinct house stairwell. He loses his job, but his father’s connections keep him out of jail. Phoebe is physically and mentally injured, but her family and her blossoming relationship with Duncan help her cope until a dangerous pattern develops: A strange man keeps crossing her path. Dead animals begin appearing on her doorstep. A hostage taker is shot after she talks him into surrendering. Her ex-husband is brutally murdered by the mystery man, who phones her with sadistic threats. Is it the spiteful disgraced cop or someone from her past? Phoebe must identify the killer before he can carry out his final outrage.
Nerve-wracking suspense leavened with romance and spiced with sex: another hit for the prolific Roberts (Blue Smoke, 2005, etc.).Pub Date: July 10, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-399-15434-8
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2007
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
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