A delightful read that may make readers want to move to New England, stay in a B&B, and fall in love.
A charming romantic comedy about an unemployed woman and an ex-NFL player at odds with each other.
Becky, an artist and teacher, moves into her sister Maddy’s bed-and-breakfast in coastal Maine. She’s there not by choice but because a scandal ousted her from her previous job. She seeks the support of her seemingly perfect sister who’s now a stepmother to two precocious young boys, Blake and Parker. Maddy and her new husband, John, embark on their honeymoon, leaving Becky to take care of the B&B. She envies her sister’s perfect life while basking in its warmth, but the idea of getting a husband is far from her mind. Becky has sworn that she’s “done with men forever.” But then a guest arrives at the B&B: Tank, an ex-pro football player and the brother of Becky’s friend, Grace, who immediately annoys Becky. Although Tank and Becky grate on each other’s nerves—she thinks that he’s too big and brooding, and he thinks that she’s too aggressive and fickle—the tension between the two is comedic. When Tank begins to assist John in the renovation of his and Maddy’s apartment, Becky can’t avoid him. One drunken night, she spills her personal life to Tank, and he witnesses and admires her vulnerability. It’s difficult to discern exactly why Becky is so bothered by Tank (Scheyder never shows their initial meeting, for example), and so it may be hard for readers to believe their disdain for each other. However, they’ll quickly overlook this lack of clarity. Scheyder has created witty, likable characters that add vitality to the story and offer a reminder that this is a novel that’s just as much about family as it is about romantic love. Tank’s character develops wonderfully as he struggles with quitting football and shaping the next chapter of his life. One can’t help but root for him.
A delightful read that may make readers want to move to New England, stay in a B&B, and fall in love.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-98-303189-5
Page Count: 294
Publisher: Andres & Blanton
Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2015
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
