A gift to the author’s fans and a compelling introduction to her supernatural universe for new readers.
In this first book of the Oracle fantasy series, a young woman ages out of a foster-care system only to learn she’s a being of great magical potential.
An orphan from birth, Rochelle Saintpaul has just turned 19. She’s now allowed to leave her Vancouver Residence home and follow her bliss in an RV. Her online business of selling charcoal drawings is successful, but her unknown psychotic disorder (plaguing her since she was 13) produces seizures and visions. The visions—featuring a tall man in a black suit and a blonde woman wielding a sparkling green knife—become the subjects of her drawings. While saying goodbye to her social worker, Rochelle receives a jewelry box that belonged to her mother, who died in a car accident. Inside are a gold necklace and “an antique white rock.” Rochelle then buys her RV and heads for Washington state, just as a scraggly local named Hoyt tries once more to befriend her. No sooner does she find a roadside diner across the border than someone asks her, “What are you?...A witch?” The buff, charismatic stranger, named Beau Jamison, notes her tattoo sleeves and alluring eyes. After buying her some pie, Beau wins Rochelle over and returns with her to the RV. Expanding the world of her Dowser series, Doidge (Catching Echoes, 2016, etc.) merges romance, carnality, and supernatural fantasy to lush effect. Her characterization of Rochelle as someone who’s earned her place in the world is encapsulated by the line “My entire life had been dictated by other people’s tragedies and shortcomings, but now I had a future that was just mine.” Later, Doidge hints at the bond forming between her protagonists when Beau “tucked my hair behind my ear...then caressed down my neck and across my collarbone,” only to moments later shove readers off an erotic cliff. The fantasy elements, including shape-shifters, sorcerers, and Rochelle’s connection to them all, proceed more gradually. The volume ends with a compromise—made for love—that promises dire consequences later in the series.
A gift to the author’s fans and a compelling introduction to her supernatural universe for new readers.Pub Date: Dec. 9, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-927850-16-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Old Man in the CrossWalk Productions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
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