by Leigh Gentry ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A
A gentle, frothy take on classic romance set pieces.
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A lovely Irishwoman immigrates to Kentucky in this debut historical novel.
Arrabella “Ella” McCarthy expects to marry her childhood friend and remain in Ireland with her loving family for the rest of her life. But there are limited prospects for a talented Irishwoman in 1897, so when her American uncle proposes naming her his heir in exchange for moving to Kentucky and marrying a neighbor’s wealthy son, Ella can’t refuse. Her major consolation is that she’ll be able to bring four of her beloved horses to her new homeland. But to do so, she must survive a dangerous ocean crossing where unlucky circumstances make her a target for harassment and assault. If readers know that Ella disguises herself as a man in response, they will begin to understand the contours of this adventure. The first of several romantic options comes to her aid as well, and he soon admires her beauty, resilience, and humor. Landing in America presents Ella with two more dubious romantic choices in the form of the Brannock brothers, Padraig and Sean. The latter is Ella’s intended, and she soon realizes that as sons of a recently deceased hotel tycoon and landowner, they have a world of expectations on their shoulders. Sean copes by drinking and gambling, and Padraig locks his feelings away to better perform his many duties. Violence, passion, and easily avoidable miscommunications ensue before Ella can comfortably call herself the mistress of her new Kentucky estate. An early scene in Gentry’s romance where Ella’s Irish Catholic mother frankly discusses the pleasures of sex alerts readers that love and marriage will be framed in a contemporary, recognizable manner. Ella herself is a mix of a 21st-century woman and a historical creation; situations are crafted to display her bravery, brains, and compassion, but this unblemished perfection can read like a portrait of a saint. Despite these motley tones, this series opener presents a beautiful thesis: that true love shapes people to notice others’ needs before their own. Darker events near the end suggest an intriguing, if straightforward, continuation of the saga.
A gentle, frothy take on classic romance set pieces.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Archway Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Robinne Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 13, 2017
A fascinating, thought-provoking, genre-bending romantic read.
When Solène Marchand takes her 12-year-old daughter to a concert by the hottest boy band on the planet, she doesn't expect to fall in love with one of the singers.
Middle-aged art gallery owner Solène hasn’t dated since her divorce, but when her ex-husband buys their daughter and a group of her friends tickets to Vegas and a backstage concert experience, then backs out at the last minute, she steps in as escort. The five guys in the wildly popular English boy band August Moon appeal to women of all ages, but Hayes, the brains behind the group’s success, flirts with Solène at the concert meet and greet, invites them to a party after the show, then pursues her once she gets back to Los Angeles. He’s only 20 and he’s incredibly famous; his attention is flattering and heady. The two fall into an affair that’s supposed to be light and easy, but before long they can’t ignore their intense emotional attachment. Solène is hesitant to tell her daughter, but when she procrastinates, Isabelle learns about it through an online tabloid, which damages their relationship and leaves Solène open to censure from her ex. Then, once the affair goes viral, she experiences the darker side of Hayes’ fan base. What started out as a jaunty adventure turns into an emotionally fraught journey, and Solène must decide what she’s willing to risk for her happiness and what she won’t risk for her daughter’s. Actress Lee, who appeared in Fifty Shades Darker, debuts with a beautifully written novel that explores sex, love, romance, and fantasy in moving, insightful ways while also examining a woman’s struggle with aging and sexism, with a nod at the tension between celebrity and privacy.
A fascinating, thought-provoking, genre-bending romantic read.Pub Date: June 13, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-12590-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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More About This Book
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
by Kathy Reichs ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 17, 2020
Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.
Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.
A week after the night she chases but fails to catch a mysterious trespasser outside her town house, some unknown party texts Tempe four images of a corpse that looks as if it’s been chewed by wild hogs, because it has been. Showboat Medical Examiner Margot Heavner makes it clear that, breaking with her department’s earlier practice (The Bone Collection, 2016, etc.), she has no intention of calling in Tempe as a consultant and promptly identifies the faceless body herself as that of a young Asian man. Nettled by several errors in Heavner’s analysis, and even more by her willingness to share the gory details at a press conference, Tempe launches her own investigation, which is not so much off the books as against the books. Heavner isn’t exactly mollified when Tempe, aided by retired police detective Skinny Slidell and a host of experts, puts a name to the dead man. But the hints of other crimes Tempe’s identification uncovers, particularly crimes against children, spur her on to redouble her efforts despite the new M.E.’s splenetic outbursts. Before he died, it seems, Felix Vodyanov was linked to a passenger ferry that sank in 1994, an even earlier U.S. government project to research biological agents that could control human behavior, the hinky spiritual retreat Sparkling Waters, the dark web site DeepUnder, and the disappearances of at least four schoolchildren, two of whom have also turned up dead. And why on earth was Vodyanov carrying Tempe’s own contact information? The mounting evidence of ever more and ever worse skulduggery will pull Tempe deeper and deeper down what even she sees as a rabbit hole before she confronts a ringleader implicated in “Drugs. Fraud. Breaking and entering. Arson. Kidnapping. How does attempted murder sound?”
Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9821-3888-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
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