Paige is unflinching in her depiction of a complicated relationship, and the results are explosive.
A missing person case leads an actress down a dangerous path of seduction in this raw duology opener from Paige (Find Me, 2015, etc.).
On hiatus from her TV show, Emily Wayborn is shocked to come home to a message from her estranged friend, Amber, on her mother’s answering machine. When Amber uses a safe word they established long ago, Emily knows the message is a cry for help. She goes undercover to track down Reeve Sallis, the billionaire hotelier with whom Amber was last seen. While Emily pumps him for information, he’ll go to increasingly disturbing lengths to have his way with her—even hijacking Emily’s massage session while she's face down on the table. But he awakens Emily’s submissive side, and pleasing Reeve keeps Emily tied up (so to speak) when she should be looking for clues. Emily’s history with Amber is told in flashbacks that are painful to read—the two girls moved in with a sugar daddy before they were old enough to consent to such an arrangement—but the distinction between Amber’s situation and Emily’s becomes increasingly clear. Emily has grown up to be an independent woman, and while she claims she has never fallen in love, she at least seems to enjoy submitting to her willing dominant partner. One memorable encounter with Reeve leaves her literally gasping for air, blurring the line between titillation and terror. Amber, meanwhile, is caught in a downward spiral of addiction and abuse. The harrowing scene when Reeve and Emily tentatively reveal what they each know about Amber brings a surprising moment of tenderness between the two damaged characters—and the cliffhanger ending sets up an even greater conflict for Book 2.
Paige is unflinching in her depiction of a complicated relationship, and the results are explosive.Pub Date: Dec. 29, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-07519-2
Page Count: 384
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 6, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable...
An unlucky woman finally gets lucky in love on an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii.
From getting her hand stuck in a claw machine at age 6 to losing her job, Olive Torres has never felt that luck was on her side. But her fortune changes when she scores a free vacation after her identical twin sister and new brother-in-law get food poisoning at their wedding buffet and are too sick to go on their honeymoon. The only catch is that she’ll have to share the honeymoon suite with her least favorite person—Ethan Thomas, the brother of the groom. To make matters worse, Olive’s new boss and Ethan’s ex-girlfriend show up in Hawaii, forcing them both to pretend to be newlyweds so they don’t blow their cover, as their all-inclusive vacation package is nontransferable and in her sister’s name. Plus, Ethan really wants to save face in front of his ex. The story is told almost exclusively from Olive’s point of view, filtering all communication through her cynical lens until Ethan can win her over (and finally have his say in the epilogue). To get to the happily-ever-after, Ethan doesn’t have to prove to Olive that he can be a better man, only that he was never the jerk she thought he was—for instance, when she thought he was judging her for eating cheese curds, maybe he was actually thinking of asking her out. Blending witty banter with healthy adult communication, the fake newlyweds have real chemistry as they talk it out over snorkeling trips, couples massages, and a few too many tropical drinks to get to the truth—that they’re crazy about each other.
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable as well as free.Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2803-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
© Copyright 2024 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.
bookshelf
