A pleasant diversion with an appealing lead character and just enough tension to propel the narrative.
In Kincer’s (Trail Mix, 2014, etc.) novel, a divorced mother of two flies off to Paris to chase after her runaway teenage daughter and rediscovers herself in the process.
This enjoyable romp through Paris and Marseille combines the terror of a possible kidnapping with chick-lit–style romance. On Sadie Ford’s 50th birthday, she discovers that her 17-year-old daughter, Scarlett, hasn’t gone to spend the first two weeks of her summer vacation with her father, Drake, as planned. She has, in fact, flown off to Paris with the intention of losing her virginity to Luc Rollande, a foreign exchange student she knows from high school. Sadie books the first flight out of St. Petersburg, Florida, but Luc and Scarlett aren’t at Luc’s address. When Sadie finally connects with Luc’s father, Auguste, the two join forces to track down their missing offspring. In the midst of their angst and fear about what’s happened to the teenagers, Sadie and Auguste find themselves magnetically drawn to each other. As if this isn’t enough drama, Sadie receives a frantic phone call from her older daughter, Evangeline, who’s landed in a New Orleans hospital in the throes of a panic attack. What’s a mother to do? There’s more sparkle in this novel than one may expect from the general plot description. Even in her desperation to find Scarlett, Sadie is entranced by Paris, and through her wanderings, readers get a first-rate tour of the city, complete with the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes that make it unique: “The sounds of a Paris street engulfed me. A faraway church bell rang. Cars accelerated, all stick shifts.” Then there are Sadie’s observations of the (admittedly upscale) cultural differences that confound her as a displaced Floridian—including the time that locals devote to the details of every eating experience and the ubiquitous, sometimes-infuriating, tendency of Parisians to shrug in answer to questions. Kincer also has a knack for depicting the delicate line that parents walk when trying to simultaneously protect teens and respect their independence.
A pleasant diversion with an appealing lead character and just enough tension to propel the narrative.Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-365-18923-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Lulu
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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
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BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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