A little bit of thriller, a little bit of romance make this coming-of-age story a lot of fun.
The kidnapping of the daughter of a prominent Mexican banker forces the young woman to face uncomfortable truths about her sheltered upbringing.
Beautiful Ximena Villarreal, with curves in all the right places and a dancer’s legs, is practically Mexican royalty, the only daughter of one of the richest bankers in the country. She lives with few cares, insulated from the hard truths of the less fortunate, until one evening when her mother’s car is run off the road, their chauffeur killed, and Ximena kidnapped by a quartet of beastly criminals. Unfortunately for the band, just moments before her abduction, Ximena had reconnected with her dashing, judo-trained cousin, Alejandro Montalban, their short reunion reigniting a passion between them that spurs Alejandro to stage a dramatic rescue. These events force Ximena to look at her life anew and for the first time ask herself what she wants, and whether her boyfriend Tommy, with his ambition and model good looks, and her father, who wishes to move the couple to Spain, truly have her best interests in mind. Alejandro seems to offer an alternative, sharing with her his plans to create quality affordable housing for Mexico’s neediest. But he is her cousin, and a dark family secret may make any future together, as friends or more, impossible. In her novel, Galindo (Habitantes de Mi Tiempo, 2009) dresses up Ximena’s coming-of-age story with a distinctive Hispanic flair and culture, both in the opulence of its protagonist’s high-class upbringing and the natural beauty of the more rural areas outside of Mexico City, from the forests to the beaches. It’s as easy to fall in love with the country as it is Ximena herself. Her quirks make up for any immaturity, with her affinity for Tootsie Rolls with Champagne as charming as it is telling, and her bravery under the threat of violence and rape marking her as no pushover. Most of the characters in the novel are fairly one-note, from Ximena’s domineering father and manipulative boyfriend to the salivating kidnappers. But the interactions between Ximena and Alejandro shine, their rapport exuberant and flirty, allowing them to grow beyond the legs and abs that seem to draw the two together.
A little bit of thriller, a little bit of romance make this coming-of-age story a lot of fun.Pub Date: March 3, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-61244-441-3
Page Count: 214
Publisher: Halo International Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 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
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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