A whimsical, if unbelievable, romantic fantasy about a celebrity couple.
When an American tourist and a member of a successful British band fall in love, will they live happily ever after?
In London, a twist of fate brings together strangers from two different worlds. All Marguerite Angeli wants is adventure and freedom. The Pennsylvania native endured a difficult and abusive childhood. After her parents are killed in a tragic car accident, an unexpected inheritance enables her to take a holiday overseas. Chase Martin should be enjoying his fame as a member of the phenomenally popular The Band 4, yet he’s contemplating walking away from the group. When Marguerite and Chase meet by chance in a London coffee shop, the connection is immediate and intense. They begin a relationship and Marguerite’s quickly accepted by the other members of the band—Blake Thomas, Drew Bishop, and Quinn Howard—and their girlfriends. Marguerite and Chase get married, and find that their plans for a family must contend with the realities of a very public relationship. Everything is idyllic, until their marriage is tested by a string of tragic events, including a miscarriage and a plot to poison the wives and girlfriends of The Band 4. Marguerite and Chase are powerfully connected, but can their love survive the pressures of life in the spotlight? Gruen’s debut romance is spirited and breezy, although Marguerite and Chase’s love story seems too good to be true at times. Both leads are earnest and likable, and Gruen expertly shows how the strength of their bond enables them to overcome past difficulties, but the characters are barely introduced before they move from courtship to marriage. A stronger aspect of the novel is Gruen’s depiction of their married life as a celebrity couple. From friendships with other thriving entertainers to the need for secrecy and carefully worded press releases, Marguerite and Chase live a life few will experience yet they retain their link to each other and their families. The editing could be a bit tighter. On a return visit to Pennsylvania, Marguerite lands at the Scranton/Wilkes Bare airport instead of the Wilkes-Bare/Scranton International Airport.
A whimsical, if unbelievable, romantic fantasy about a celebrity couple.Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4602-8353-0
Page Count: 324
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Aug. 23, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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