The taboo here, a brother-sister romance, isn't the most offensive part. It's the overly complicated plot and nearly...
Dallas and Jane are foster brother and sister, raised together since age 5. When they were teenagers, they were kidnapped and tortured together. If they started out being attracted to one another, the trauma bonded them further…much further.
Dallas is known as the King of Fuck, a wealthy bad boy who publicly leaves women sexually satisfied yet brokenhearted, but belongs entirely to Jane when they're alone. Jane is a writer, so her life is much more private, but since Dallas is the man behind Deliverance—a vigilante group dedicated to the recovery of kidnapped children and the punishment of their abductors—his playboy persona is intended to be smoke and mirrors for his real work. When there's a threat to the anonymity of Deliverance, and new clues emerge about the people behind their own kidnapping, Dallas and Jane are thrust into a web of intrigue and danger. Though Dallas is quite a talented lover, his torture left him unable to seal the deal with the women he beds, so he satisfies them digitally and fakes it. Of course, Jane is the exception to this rule, and she thrives on the forbidden thrill of their secret taboo love. It's not that the sex scenes aren't hot, exactly. They just seem a little unlikely—as though the author didn't care to pay much attention to how bodies work or the way that sexual violence might actually affect human men. Kenner isn't afraid to “go there,” but she seems not quite sure of what to do when she arrives. And it seems like she might have gotten bad directions on the way.
The taboo here, a brother-sister romance, isn't the most offensive part. It's the overly complicated plot and nearly nonsensical depiction of trauma and sexual violence.Pub Date: July 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-96748-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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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