Fans have been waiting a long time for Joe Travis’ story, and they will celebrate this book.
Wedding planner Avery Crosslin meets Joe Travis—of the Houston Travises—at a society event and convinces herself that he’s good for business but a bad romantic bet; rebel Joe has other plans, however, and he usually gets what he wants.
When Avery confuses Houston society favorite Joe for a wedding photographer, she catches his attention, and they have a one-night stand. Avery never expects to hear from him again, but he follows up, genuinely interested. She resolves to keep the popular bachelor at arm’s length, convinced that he's way out of her league and only intrigued because he doesn’t like rejection. Meanwhile, Avery’s company is on the rise, and when Joe’s family hires her team for some event planning, she sees his down-to-earth nature and sincerity. Avery falls for him, but she mistrusts love. She tells herself she's focused on her career and keeps people at arm's length, but Joe wants her to acknowledge that she's both worthy of his affection and more connected to people than she will admit. After some unexpected professional opportunities arise and family secrets are revealed, Avery must decide what really matters and take a stand for her own happiness, jeopardizing her career and risking her heart in order to win the life she can’t quite believe she deserves. To a skeptic, the plots of romance novels might sound formulaic, and that's true to a degree. But, really, it’s the journey more than the destination that makes each book unique. Kleypas is among the crème de la crème of romance authors, and this novel illustrates why. Avery’s complex reasons for resisting Joe falter against the trademark Travis combination of hardscrabble Texan and urbane playboy, to which Joe adds his own artistic sensibility. Kleypas’ characters manage to be both larger-than-life and friend-next-door accessible, and it's hard not to be seduced by her breathtaking romance, believable yet wrenching plot twists, and pitch-perfect worldbuilding.
Fans have been waiting a long time for Joe Travis’ story, and they will celebrate this book.Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-312-60537-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2015
PROFILES
The heartfelt soap appears to be Hannah’s chosen romance niche, and she mines it skillfully. (First printing of 125,000)
Hannah’s sequel to On Mystic Lake (1999) is yet another tear-jerker set in northwest Washington State.
Perfect mother Mikaela (“Mike”) Campbell takes a hard fall off a horse, hits her head, and sinks into a coma. In order to help bring her out of it, perfect husband-doctor Liam sits at her bedside and begins to talk to her about their life together. He brings her favorite music, scented potpourri, and, to place across her inert body, sweaters that may smell like home. He also tries to keep life as normal as possible for their two kids: Bret, nine years old, and Jacey, Mike’s teenaged daughter by her previous husband. Going through Mike’s closet to find a prom dress for Jacey, Liam stumbles on souvenirs of her first marriage and a picture of her ex—not just any old, anonymous first husband, but Julian True, a gorgeous superstar actor, the hero of women’s fantasies all over America. Liam has always known that he got Mikaela on the rebound; she was honest about the fact that he was not the love of her life. But she is the love of his life, and when she doesn't respond to the sound of his voice, he contacts Julian in hopes that the actor can save Mikaela. Julian travels up to Last Bend, a cutesy town founded by Liam’s larger-than-life father and filled with homey shops like the Emperor’s New Clothes store and Zeke’s Feed and Seed. When Mike finally comes out of unconsciousness and into her family’s emotional upheaval, she apologizes to Liam and bids goodbye to Julian. Yes, she’s discovered that it’s that gentle guy who stays with you through years of cramps and decorating the Christmas tree who defines what love really is.
The heartfelt soap appears to be Hannah’s chosen romance niche, and she mines it skillfully. (First printing of 125,000)Pub Date: April 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-609-60592-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2007
Uneasy mix of escapism and medical soap opera.
Another Nantucket beach read from Hildebrand (Nantucket Nights, 2001), this one set in a fabulous ocean-side restaurant where the heroine’s frothy romance competes with the specter of cystic fibrosis.
Adrienne Dealey arrives in Nantucket from Aspen, having drifted from one resort hotel job to another for the last eight years. Despite a complete lack of restaurant experience, debonair Thatcher Smith immediately hires her as his assistant manager at the eponymous Blue Bistro, which he owns with chef Fiona Kemp and which will shut its doors for good after this final summer season. Adrienne moves in with a friendly waitress, buys some new hostess outfits and proves a fast learner of the ins and outs of the restaurant business, her success aided by her natural good looks. Hildebrand introduces lots of mouthwatering food and keeps the champagne flowing for the not terribly colorful cast of customers and staff—the unhappy married couple, the studly bartender, the lonely rich guy, the ambitious pastry chef. The inevitable romance between Adrienne and Thatch is complicated by Thatch’s devotion to Fiona, with whom he eats dinner every night after the restaurant closes. And, frankly, in a charisma contest, Fiona in her apron would win over Adrienne in her designer frocks hands down. A graduate of the Culinary Institute, petite, fierce-eyed Fiona is a brilliant chef who could be a star on the Cooking Channel, but she avoids all publicity and never leaves her kitchen. Gradually, Adrienne realizes that Fiona is sick, a secret that must be kept so that diners aren’t frightened away. As the summer winds down, Adrienne and Thatch find themselves deeply in love, but Thatch’s devotion to the devoutly Catholic Fiona, who has her own married lover, never waivers, and he marries her in a hospital ceremony just before her death. Not to worry: now he’s an available widower.
Uneasy mix of escapism and medical soap opera.Pub Date: June 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-312-31953-3
Page Count: 336
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2005
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