An appealing couple in a well-intentioned but messy love story.
This debut novel, the first installment of a trilogy, revolves around a woman with a keen intuition, a dark past, and a bright future.
After her husband, Brian, is killed in a car crash, Sophie Winters is a widow at age 25. With no spouse, no parents, and only two friends in the world—Martin and Kathy Bowman—life looks bleak. Enter country music star Jamie England—Sophie feels a strange pull to him at Brian’s funeral (“She could sense his concern...and somehow feeling connected to him took all her pain away”). Later when they cross paths at a club (“Her mind swirled to the past, back to the present, into the future...she knew him. They were a couple in love”). Unfortunately, she has already arranged to move to Amalfi, Italy, her birthplace, hoping to find a new start. On her arrival, she finds the town intoxicating (“Nothing prepared her for its magnificence…her heart swelled in her chest, stirred by the scents of the sea air, bougainvillea, and hibiscus growing below her window”). There, she comes to terms with her family secrets and builds a glamorous life (aided by a hefty inheritance). Then Jamie resurfaces, along with a shady character from her childhood who could threaten everything she’s accomplished. For all its heart, Winkler’s novel suffers some pitfalls. Plot points and character descriptions are often woven into the dialogue, which results in conversations sounding more informative than colloquial, as when Sophie describes her head of security to Kathy: “He’s tall, exudes power, dark brown hair and dark, intense eyes, which always roam on guard.” The narrative gets bogged down in logistical details, with events being relayed several times. The characters depend on recycled traits: Sophie has an endless supply of tears, Kathy addresses her as “sweetie” in most lines, Martin is perpetually “in the doghouse,” and Jamie uses “Dear God” to express nearly every emotion. Despite its challenges, the tale includes elements that should appeal to most readers: steamy scenes for erotica fans, sweet moments for die-hard romantics, and a suspenseful finish for thrill junkies. For those who become attached to Sophie and Jamie, the book is a gold mine after they’re reunited a third of the way through. There’s ample time for ups and downs, the luxuries of being über-wealthy, and general bliss.
An appealing couple in a well-intentioned but messy love story.Pub Date: Dec. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5201-6725-1
Page Count: 499
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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