A coming-of-age tale with a dynamic pair of brothers and plenty of light action.
In Higgs’ debut modern-day Western novella, two young Oklahoman brothers must transport a bull to a neighboring state and encounter unexpected danger.
Times are tough on the McConnell farm, as drought and hailstorms have ravaged their crops. Indeed, Robert and Rachel McConnell are one step away from foreclosure on their 320-acre ranch in Northeastern Oklahoma. They’re forced to sell their beloved purebred Hereford breed bull to satisfy the bank, and they find a buyer online who has one caveat: The animal must be delivered to Oscuro, New Mexico, in three days. Robert is injured trying to herd the animal into a trailer, so it falls upon their two sons, 20-year-old Tommy and 17-year-old Andy, to make the delivery. However, their journey is anything but straightforward. After the bull escapes from the trailer while the boys are changing a flat tire, local police and a TV news team unexpectedly get involved. Later, the siblings pick up Cassie Henshaw, a diner server who has dreams of making it big in Los Angeles; Andy saves her from an enraged chef at her job, and, from this beginning, Higgs delivers a sweet romance. (Although Tommy is reluctant to bring her along, Cassie later saves the day after Tommy loses his wallet.) Overall, the author delivers a feel-good Western that retains all the familiar hallmarks of that genre, but he places them alongside present-day obstacles. The action effectively culminates in a theft that’s followed by an adrenaline-fueled chase, which ends in a rather lopsided shootout. Through it all, Higgs makes sure that the brothers' love for their family—and their determination to do what they must to keep their livelihood intact—shines through.
A coming-of-age tale with a dynamic pair of brothers and plenty of light action.Pub Date: July 22, 2022
ISBN: 979-8-84674-059-4
Page Count: 118
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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