A fun, frothy read bolstered by a likable heroine and a snappy, fast-paced narrative.
A single mother embarks on an unconventional business venture in Doyle’s debut novel.
Amanda Keane loves her life in Chicago and her career as an editor at Fixtures magazine. For her 30th birthday, her friends treat her to an evening at Daly’s, a local bar and restaurant, with a blind date. However, the sparks truly fly when she meets Eamonn, the restaurant owner’s nephew. He’s an aspiring musician from Ireland who’s spending several months in the Windy City. But when Amanda discovers she’s pregnant with Eamonn’s child, he disappears from her life. Shortly after the birth of their daughter, Maddie, she loses her job at the magazine. When her friend Joy, a gynecologist, suggests that she try working as a wet nurse for wealthy mothers, she’s initially skeptical. However, with a baby to support and bills to pay, she does so, working on a contract basis for some of the most powerful women in town. Because of the sensitive nature of her services, Amanda keeps the true nature of her job a secret from her new boyfriend, Dan, a handsome single father she met at Maddie’s day care. Amanda’s attempts to balance her work and her blossoming romance are soon complicated by the demands of her job and the reappearance of a person from her past. Doyle brings a quirky premise to life with colorful characters and a brisk pace. The bright Amanda is the strongest player here; although she’s occasionally naïve when it comes to romance, her resourcefulness enables her to navigate the secret lives of Chicago’s elite. Doyle also establishes a nice contrast between the men in Amanda’s life: Eamonn is a charming louse who appeals to Amanda’s fantasy of dating a sensitive musician, while Dan and his son, Lucas, provide a strong sense of stability. Amanda’s employers all come from diverse backgrounds, but each harbors intriguing secrets. As Amanda’s journey takes her from the world of magazine journalism to the world of wealth, Doyle’s pacing never misses a beat.
A fun, frothy read bolstered by a likable heroine and a snappy, fast-paced narrative.Pub Date: Nov. 21, 2014
ISBN: 978-0985352080
Page Count: 308
Publisher: Simon and Fig
Review Posted Online: Feb. 27, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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