Another silly tale from McKinney (Gentle From the Night, 1997, etc.),again about how love can save you from the dark side. With her aunt Jacqueline missing, Alyn Blum-Jones could be the “last of the Blums” and the new heiress to the enormous Blum Toasties fortune. Jacqueline, who lived at Blumfield, her fabulous Maryland estate, with two sleazy middle-aged lovers, one bizarre housekeeper, an army of liveried workers, and a bedroom lined with Harlequin romances, is presumed dead—and dead she is, buried in the concrete of her new stable. Jacqueline’s insurance company, though, a nasty slice of corporate America, doesn’t have to pay Alyn a $20 million life-insurance policy unless her aunt’s body is found. And just to make sure that Alyn never sees a cent, the company sends troubleshooter Peter Youngblood to Blumfield to oversee their business. Youngblood, an ex-cop with a skull tattooed on his hard-muscled shoulder, has seen (and done) it all. Once an idealistic law-enforcement officer, he’s now a cold, jaded sexy guy who appears in a wardrobe of ever-changing boxer shorts and tight jeans. It’s hard for him to believe that Alyn, a sweet veterinarian from Quincy, Mass., is the innocent she appears to be. And harder still to believe she intends to give her billion-dollar inheritance to a variety of worthy charities. As Alyn and Youngblood spar and struggle with their unwanted mutual attraction, they search for Jacqueline’s killer (never truly a mystery) and for the person who murdered her two ex-lovers. Together, the couple try to find a way to save Alyn from the porn king who turns out to be the father who deserted her before she was born—and to prove Jacqueline’s death by presenting the police with her lower mandible, left by the killer in a safe-deposit box at a Chase branch in Manhattan. Way over the top and unintentionally amusing—which may be the only reasons to read it.
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1998
ISBN: 1-57566-371-6
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1998
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
To her usual mix of love, mystery, and passion, Roberts (Sanctuary, 1997, etc.)—author of 115 romancers in some 17 years—adds Renaissance art and a decidedly Medici-like family: the Joneses of Maine. Dr. Miranda Jones, nearly six feet with flaming red hair and a glacial reserve, is an archeometrist who specializes in the analyzing and dating of Renaissance bronze sculpture. Miranda hopes to secure a world-class reputation for herself by authenticating a 15th-century statue of the Dark Lady, one of the mistresses of Lorenzo the Magnificent, as the undiscovered work of a young Michelangelo. Miranda's mother, Dr. Elizabeth Standford-Jones, the emotionally remote director of the Standjo art lab in Florence, has summoned her daughter from the family's Victorian cliffside home in Jones Point, Maine, to test the statue. Meanwhile, Miranda's father, equally remote, is an archaeologist who spends more time at his digs than at home. In fact, no one in the Jones family has made a successful run at marriage, a failure that Miranda and her alcoholic brother Andrew call the Jones curse. As for the statue, when it's discovered to be a fake, Miranda sets out to prove that someone stole the original. In this she's helped by gorgeous art thief Ryan Boldari (half-Italian, half-Irish), who's come to Jones Point to steal yet another bronze, which also turns out to be a forgery. Ryan's plan had been to use Miranda as a pawn, but now, naturally, he finds himself falling hard for her. While the two search for bronzes, a standard-issue romance-novel psychotic is stalking them. Most readers will twig to the killer's identity: Here, as always, Roberts's sexual tension is more compelling than her suspense. Perhaps it's time to take a sabbatical from the pink sweatshop and turn her considerable wit and narrative skills to a more original piece of work.
Pub Date: March 23, 1998
ISBN: 0-399-14387-4
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1998
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