Tries hard but fails to tell a different story of thwarted passions and family obligations.
A first novel breathlessly celebrates an unusual heroine—she works the waters of the Chesapeake Bay—in an unconvincing story of sibling rivalries that have fatal consequences.
Hart’s writing is flawless and her setting—Virginia’s barrier islands—consummately evoked, but her characters seem rootless concepts bound to an overwrought plot. The narrator, Annie Revels, is 20, the year 1920, and she is nursing younger sister Rebecca, who nearly drowned in a nor’easter that almost destroyed their home on Yaupon Island. Annie recalls how Rebecca came close to drowning another time, one day as a toddler on their father’s boat when she fell overboard. She was rescued, but her father spanked Annie because Rebecca had been her responsibility—and remains a responsibility that, despite her affection for Rebecca, Annie has resented since her sister’s birth. Their mother never fully recovered from delivering Rebecca, and not only does Annie have to take charge of the household, but she’s pained further by the fact that Rebecca is beautiful and Annie plain, something especially galling when the two attend local school and the teacher and other students are entranced with Rebecca. When their father drowns at sea, Annie cuts her hair, dresses in his old trousers and shirts, and works his crab traps and oyster beds to support the family. Her hands are scarred and callused, her skin sunburned, while Rebecca, an incompetent and dim-witted housekeeper, spends her days paging through magazines and brushing her mother’s hair. Out on the water one day, Annie meets Nathan Combs, a veteran of the recent WWI and a fishing guide for a nearby hotel. She’s smitten and the two are soon making love, even on the night he comes to dinner to meet the family. But Rebecca sees them, seduces Nathan, and marries him—because she’s pregnant. Then a big storm further complicates this bleak tale.
Tries hard but fails to tell a different story of thwarted passions and family obligations.Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-425-18471-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2002
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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