A winning Victorian romance with a Pretty Woman vibe—complete with a hot piano scene.
After a marquess manipulates his son into marrying a commoner, the two fall in love, but her murky past may get in the way of their future happiness.
After his mother died in childbirth and his father went mad with grief, Killian St. John, Viscount Locksley, vowed never to open his heart to romantic love, seeing the emotional devastation it caused for his family. However, when he takes his sweet time getting married, his father arranges to marry Portia Gadstone through a newspaper ad, with the scheming expectation that Killian will marry her instead, which he does. Portia comes across as a haughty gold digger, which to Killian means he won’t fall in love with her, so she’s safe to wed. Except that once they’re married, not only does Portia bring sunshine and music to his life and to the neglected Havisham estate, cleaning out rooms that haven’t been touched in decades, but their sexual connection is explosive. She’s nothing like he imagined, and he falls for her, but just as their marriage seems real, they journey to London for a visit where secrets from her past rise up, and Killian realizes that, for all her innate honesty, she’s been quite conniving indeed. At first furious, Killian reconsiders his feelings and the state of his heart when she disappears and he has to delve into her history to track her down. Historical romance favorite Heath (The Earl Takes All, 2016, etc.) wraps up the Hellions of Havisham series—save for an upcoming prequel novella—with a send-off that is both heart-stirring and supersexy, offering a story that hits romantic high notes even as it explores some disturbing historical details and highlights the power of love and compassion.
A winning Victorian romance with a Pretty Woman vibe—complete with a hot piano scene.Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-239105-6
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A page-turning premise that gets overshadowed by its unlikable heroine.
Naomi Westfield and her perfect fiance, Nicholas Rose, are just a few short months away from walking down the aisle. But there’s one big flaw in their seemingly idyllic relationship: She hates him.
Naomi is an underachiever who works at a local junk store that’s on its last legs. She isn’t close to her family, her only friends are her ragtag bunch of co-workers, and she is so run down by her fiance’s overbearing mother that she has all but checked out of her own life. But when she discovers that Nicholas is just as tired of her as she is of him, Naomi decides to wage a war in the form of petty pranks, mind games, and general sabotage to get Nicholas to call off the wedding. Nicholas, the upstanding dentist who nevertheless cowers in the shadow of his mother’s expectations, responds by buying a house in the woods. He is convinced the move will save their relationship, but Naomi is dubious. At this point it’s clear that the novel would be greatly improved by a dual narrative—Naomi is so utterly convinced of Nicholas’ hatred and lack of interest (despite all evidence to the contrary), and responds so cruelly based on her convictions, that it’s difficult to understand why Nicholas would want to marry her at all. Although self-centered Naomi eventually comes to the realization that she has been ignoring the realities of her relationship, it’s a revelation that arrives far too late—all the romance in this overlong rom-com is relegated to the last few pages. There are glimmers of important discussions about mental illnesses like anxiety and depersonalization, but they never go past surface level, a lost opportunity to elevate the text.
A page-turning premise that gets overshadowed by its unlikable heroine.Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-08542-4
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
An amnesia plot done right and a fantastic heroine mark a strong series debut.
First in the Cowboys of California series, about brothers who run a luxury dude ranch.
Celebrity chef Evie Buchanan was raised on the Pleasant family’s luxury dude ranch in Charming, California, by her grandmother, a renowned horse trainer, after her parents were killed in a car accident. In the decade since her grandmother died, Evie has been working her way up the culinary ladder in New York City. She has found success co-hosting a television show, but she has never met a man quite like the cowboy who broke her heart. Zach Pleasant, gorgeous, charming, and laser focused on work, is now co-owner of Big Rock Ranch with his brother, Jesse. When Evie sustains a traumatic brain injury at an industry party and loses her memory, she needs a quiet place, away from Manhattan, to recover. The Pleasant family takes her in, and Evie slowly begins to regain some of her cooking skills and memories. She’s attracted to Zach, but trying to come to terms with how he hurt her in the past without remembering it proves a challenge. Evie is a heroine to root for—resilient, brave, honest, funny, and humble. Her struggles, not only to recover, but to reinvent herself, are movingly portrayed: “I want to feel loved, like really loved. I want to feel that I have something that is mine for as long as I can hold on to it.” The romance competes with a very large cast of characters in both New York and California, and a suspense subplot fizzles out, but Zach is a good man and a fitting match.
An amnesia plot done right and a fantastic heroine mark a strong series debut.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4967-2540-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dafina/Kensington
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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