An enjoyable and dramatic era-spanning love story.
A writer of historical fiction travels back in time—and into the world of her characters—in this romance novel.
With her last two Regency romances not selling well, Claire Channing is desperate to turn things around with her new book, set in 1816, that follows the fortunes of reformed rake Julian St. John and “wicked, seductive” Clarissa Andrews. Claire’s grandmother disappeared about a year ago, leaving her Maine cottage empty—the perfect place for some peace and quiet, except for Adam Winthrop, who’s been constantly pestering Claire to sell the place to his resort-owning family. When Claire wraps her grandmother’s tallit (Jewish prayer shawl) around her, she finds herself in an 1816 ballroom, correctly dressed and with an English accent. Not only that, Claire’s characters are here in the flesh. St. John is even handsomer than she’d written him, and Clarissa strongly resembles the novelist. Claire’s first visit to the past is short, but she soon returns to the 19th century. At first, she only hopes to garner details to boost her novel’s verisimilitude, but her roots in Regency England are stronger than she knows. Claire finds herself falling in love with St. John—and incurring Clarissa’s dangerous rivalry. In both worlds, Claire must race to prevent a tragedy. Burkard (Three French Hens, 2019, etc.) ably combines time travel, romance, and thriller elements in this latest outing. With problems to solve and antagonists in both past and present, Claire has many opportunities to prove her mettle—while St. John has several chances to demonstrate his reformation. The past is skillfully evoked in speech, dress, food, and drink, with only a few questionable turns of phrase (“St. John really has feelings for me”; “Good show, old boy”). It’s not easy to see why Claire and St. John fall for each other so hard so quickly, although it helps that she’s been engaged with his character already in writing her novel. Some readers may be offended by the idea of the tallit, a Jewish religious ritual object, being used casually as a shawl.
An enjoyable and dramatic era-spanning love story.Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-73331-110-6
Page Count: 318
Publisher: Lilliput Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 20, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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