Cozy and almost life-affirming, but unlikely to win new fans.
Over the course of a few years, an interconnected group of friends living in the English countryside experience their share of laughter and tears.
After her naval-officer husband dies of cancer, Felicity Mainwaring hardly expects to be alone for long. After all, for more than 20 years, she has been carrying on with his close friend and fellow officer George Lampeter, a longtime bachelor with a compliant personality. She is understandably stunned, then, when George, with some interference by his formidable mother Esme, meets and marries Thea, a sheltered young woman in her 20s. That George is happy with Thea matters naught to Felicity, and she plots and schemes to wreck his marriage. Thea’s devoted cousin Tim then takes it upon himself to help Thea by having his fiancée’s father David, a famous painter, befriend the not-so-merry widow. Romance ensues, and love brings out a whole new side of Felicity. Sadly, it does not last long, and Felicity is found dead after inadvertently mixing her migraine medication with gin. Her death sends shockwaves through the Moorland community, with both George and David feeling tremendous guilt. Meanwhile, Thea’s bored and drifting friend Polly leaves her loveless marriage to a self-absorbed scientist to discover several willing suitors, including an affable dog-breeder—and the now-married Tim. Polly’s reawakening as a confident and somewhat ambitious young woman takes up much of the novel’s second half, but Willett (First Friends, 2006, etc.) weaves in plenty of quiet subplots involving babies, tentative love affairs and sudden snowstorms. Revisiting several characters from Willett’s previous work, this 1995 British release seems overlong and often dated. And with the exception of the conniving, birdlike Felicity, the characters are interchangeable and far from engaging.
Cozy and almost life-affirming, but unlikely to win new fans.Pub Date: Oct. 26, 2006
ISBN: 0-312-30664-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2006
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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