A haunting and poignant meditation on forgiveness, faith, and love.
A man embarks on a journey of repentance and reconciliation in this novel.
Years ago, Kellion S. Mocking walked away from Angelius Tanner—the one person who loved him no matter how many mistakes he made—and fell into a downward spiral of drug addiction. He is now sober and determined to find his beloved Angelius and ask for her forgiveness. With no time to waste, he sets out on foot to find her. While resting by a river, he sees a woman jump into the water. Acting on instinct, he leaps into the river and rescues her. While she declines to give her name, she agrees to accompany Kellion, and he shares his story. He reveals that his parents died when he was young and he was sent to an orphanage. Angelius lived there, and she became his first friend and later first love. His impulsive nature led him down a path of drugs, gambling, and petty crime until a shocking incident caused him to flee the orphanage and Angelius. When Kellion learns how limited his time is, his search takes on new urgency, and the mystery woman may be the key to locating Angelius. Tor’s (Revelation, 2017, etc.) novel is an understated yet emotionally resonant tale of a man desperate to come to terms with his past and find redemption. The strongest elements of the story are its structure and well-drawn characters. The narrative unfolds at a slow and deliberate pace as Kellion opens up to the woman he aided, recounting the poor decisions and squandered opportunities that left him homeless and separated from the woman he adores. Tor skillfully uses flashbacks to chart Kellion’s descent into the depths of addiction and despair. The scenes are harrowing but never seem gratuitous or exploitative. Kellion is a sympathetic protagonist, a man who is cleareyed about his troubled history and lost love. Seen primarily in flashbacks, Angelius emerges as a strong supporting character whose affection and compassion leave a lasting impression on Kellion.
A haunting and poignant meditation on forgiveness, faith, and love.Pub Date: May 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5333-3587-6
Page Count: 296
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable...
An unlucky woman finally gets lucky in love on an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii.
From getting her hand stuck in a claw machine at age 6 to losing her job, Olive Torres has never felt that luck was on her side. But her fortune changes when she scores a free vacation after her identical twin sister and new brother-in-law get food poisoning at their wedding buffet and are too sick to go on their honeymoon. The only catch is that she’ll have to share the honeymoon suite with her least favorite person—Ethan Thomas, the brother of the groom. To make matters worse, Olive’s new boss and Ethan’s ex-girlfriend show up in Hawaii, forcing them both to pretend to be newlyweds so they don’t blow their cover, as their all-inclusive vacation package is nontransferable and in her sister’s name. Plus, Ethan really wants to save face in front of his ex. The story is told almost exclusively from Olive’s point of view, filtering all communication through her cynical lens until Ethan can win her over (and finally have his say in the epilogue). To get to the happily-ever-after, Ethan doesn’t have to prove to Olive that he can be a better man, only that he was never the jerk she thought he was—for instance, when she thought he was judging her for eating cheese curds, maybe he was actually thinking of asking her out. Blending witty banter with healthy adult communication, the fake newlyweds have real chemistry as they talk it out over snorkeling trips, couples massages, and a few too many tropical drinks to get to the truth—that they’re crazy about each other.
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable as well as free.Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2803-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
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