Why should men have all the fun? In a twist on the typical May/December romance, Humphrey’s new chick-lit is a romping good time.
Allie is 50 years old, and her love life is nonexistent. Though she has been divorced for nearly 10 years and her kids are grown, she has been focused on running her successful nonprofit organization, Twenty. Her three best friends (forming a group aptly named “The Four”) are her support and sounding board, having seen each other through life’s highs and lows. They also provide a reality check when needed and push Allie to sign up for a dating website. Allie bows to peer pressure and goes on a few dates with handsome, age-appropriate David. Yet Allie finds herself irrepressibly drawn to the much younger Jameson, a charismatic ball of energy who signs up as a volunteer for her organization. In addition to being smart, handsome, wealthy and highly motivated, he’s also an old soul who sees nothing wrong with a romance between himself and Allie. While fighting her growing attraction to Jameson, Allie is thrown into turmoil, envisioning all the problems inherent in dating a man closer in age to her own children. The reservations of The Four are a major consideration, especially those of the catty and typically unsupportive Jo. Following a breakup of her own, Jo embarks on an online dating adventure as well, managing to turn Allie’s dating experiment into a stressful competition. Full of peppy dialogue and engaging characters, Humphrey’s novel is a bubbly read that stays fresh and fun. Her subtle exploration of the shifting dynamics of The Four is well-done, perfectly capturing the complexities and beauty of female friendships. Allie is a relatable heroine, foundering with insecurity yet capable of rising to meet even the toughest challenges. The only hitch in Humphrey’s novel is Jameson, whose Zen outlook and philosophical viewpoints on age, money and time are admirable yet seem a little too good to be true.
Grab a towel and some sunscreen—Humphrey’s novel is the perfect book for a sunny day at the beach.
Pub Date: June 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1499231472
Page Count: 304
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Entertaining and thoroughly engrossing.
Another reboot of Jane Austen?!? Hadlow pulls it off in a smart, heartfelt novel devoted to bookish Mary, middle of the five sisters in Pride and Prejudice.
Part 1 recaps Pride and Prejudice through Mary’s eyes, climaxing with the humiliating moment when she sings poorly at a party and older sister Elizabeth goads their father to cut her off in front of everyone. The sisters’ friend Charlotte, who marries the unctuous Mr. Collins after Elizabeth rejects him, emerges as a pivotal character; her conversations with Mary are even tougher-minded here than those with Elizabeth depicted by Austen. In Part 2, two years later, Mary observes on a visit that Charlotte is deferential but remote with her husband; she forms an intellectual friendship with the neglected and surprisingly nice Mr. Collins that leads to Charlotte’s asking Mary to leave. In Part 3, Mary finds refuge in London with her kindly aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner. Mrs. Gardiner is the second motherly woman, after Longbourn housekeeper Mrs. Hill, to try to undo the psychic damage wrought by Mary’s actual mother, shallow, status-obsessed Mrs. Bennet, by building up her confidence and buying her some nice clothes (funded by guilt-ridden Lizzy). Sure enough, two suitors appear: Tom Hayward, a poetry-loving lawyer who relishes Mary’s intellect but urges her to also express her feelings; and William Ryder, charming but feckless inheritor of a large fortune, whom naturally Mrs. Bennet loudly favors. It takes some maneuvering to orchestrate the estrangement of Mary and Tom, so clearly right for each other, but debut novelist Hadlow manages it with aplomb in a bravura passage describing a walking tour of the Lake District rife with seething complications furthered by odious Caroline Bingley. Her comeuppance at Mary’s hands marks the welcome final step in our heroine’s transformation from a self-doubting wallflower to a vibrant, self-assured woman who deserves her happy ending. Hadlow traces that progression with sensitivity, emotional clarity, and a quiet edge of social criticism Austen would have relished.
Entertaining and thoroughly engrossing.Pub Date: March 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-12941-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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