Seventh heaven for the fans—totally without style but totally just super.
Vampire Queen Betsy Taylor makes her third appearance.
As moonlighting romance writer Davidson related in two previous outings (Undead and Unemployed, mass market, etc.), the unemployed secretary was killed by a car, awoke in a coffin and rose from the dead to be hailed as the prophesied Queen Elizabeth I of the Vampires. But Betsy can’t bear her consort, much older but charismatic dreamboat King Eric Sinclair, and she can’t bear drinking blood. In fact, we first meet her in this volume at an AA meeting. “I thought maybe you guys would have some tricks or something I could use to stop drinking,” she says. Vastly shallow, self-centered and wisecracking, Betsy rooms in her mansion with two non-vamps: black billionairess and best friend Jessica, her accountant; and overworked gay E.R. doctor Marc Spangler, himself in AA. Betsy’s unwanted royal problems start with vamps Andrea Mercer and Daniel Harris asking her to officiate at their marriage on Halloween. She must also manage her nightclub Scratch while having Jessica handle various properties Betsy inherited from nasty Monique, a bad vamp who tried repeatedly to kill her before Betsy had to return the favor. Then her wicked stepmother, Antonia, not dead and now pregnant, invites Betsy to a baby shower at Marshall Field’s. From Antonia, put under a spell by Sinclair, Betsy learns that she has a younger half-sister who is the devil’s daughter and future queen of the planet. Reading The Book of the Dead drives Betsy psycho: she attacks Jessica and drinks her blood, rapes Sinclair and tries to kill tiny old vampire Tina, who creams her. When she finally tracks down and meets half-sister Laura Goodman, the devil’s daughter is not at all what you’d expect. She’ll be back next volume for sure.
Seventh heaven for the fans—totally without style but totally just super.Pub Date: July 5, 2005
ISBN: 0-425-20433-2
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
With vignettes from Nazi-occupied Denmark and a spotlight on the noble actions of an engaged Danish citizenry that...
Antiques treasure hunter Tess Delaney lives a high-octane existence and is on the cusp of the success she’s fought for, so now may not be the best time to question everything; but as events pile up and secrets are uncovered, forcing her to re-evaluate, she may find that a perfect life she never dreamed of is within her reach.
On the very day Tess expects a huge promotion in her highly prestigious antiques brokerage firm, banker Dominic Rossi turns up in her San Francisco office to inform her that she has a grandfather and a half sister she never knew about; that her grandfather is in a coma; and that she’s named in his will as half owner of an orchard that’s about to go under. Raised by a single mother who traveled extensively and an unmarried grandmother who owned an antiques shop, Tess has always been attracted to the idea of family but has had limited exposure to the reality. She is drawn to the honorable Dominic, her welcoming sister Isabel and life in Archangel, Calif., and she quickly becomes entwined in discovering the truth about the family she never knew, bringing her talent and experience as a researcher, historian and treasure hunter to the many secrets buried in the sands of time. Underneath it all, a mysterious missing heirloom may bring them all financial and emotional salvation, and in the process of discovery, Tess will begin to understand the true power of love, community, family and honor. Wiggs’ latest is a lovely, poignant story of a woman who thinks she has it all until she discovers she truly does, and none of it is what she expected.
With vignettes from Nazi-occupied Denmark and a spotlight on the noble actions of an engaged Danish citizenry that reportedly managed to save 99 percent of its Jewish population, Wiggs tells a layered, powerful story of love, loss, hope and redemption.Pub Date: April 30, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7783-1493-6
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Review Posted Online: March 10, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sparkling, laugh-out-loud novel.
Polished debut fiction, from Australian author Simsion, about a brilliant but emotionally challenged geneticist who develops a questionnaire to screen potential mates but finds love instead. The book won the 2012 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an unpublished manuscript.
“I became aware of applause. It seemed natural. I had been living in the world of romantic comedy and this was the final scene. But it was real.” So Don Tillman, our perfectly imperfect narrator and protagonist, tells us. While he makes this observation near the end of the book, it comes as no surprise—this story plays the rom-com card from the first sentence. Don is challenged, almost robotic. He cannot understand social cues, barely feels emotion and can’t stand to be touched. Don’s best friends are Gene and Claudia, psychologists. Gene brought Don as a postdoc to the prestigious university where he is now an associate professor. Gene is a cad, a philanderer who chooses women based on nationality—he aims to sleep with a woman from every country. Claudia is tolerant until she’s not. Gene sends Rosie, a graduate student in his department, to Don as a joke, a ringer for the Wife Project. Finding her woefully unsuitable, Don agrees to help the beautiful but fragile Rosie learn the identity of her biological father. Pursuing this Father Project, Rosie and Don collide like particles in an atom smasher: hilarity, dismay and carbonated hormones ensue. The story lurches from one set piece of deadpan nudge-nudge, wink-wink humor to another: We laugh at, and with, Don as he tries to navigate our hopelessly emotional, nonliteral world, learning as he goes. Simsion can plot a story, set a scene, write a sentence, finesse a detail. A pity more popular fiction isn’t this well-written. If you liked Australian author Toni Jordan's Addition (2009), with its math-obsessed, quirky heroine, this book is for you.
A sparkling, laugh-out-loud novel.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4767-2908-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2013
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