Often clichéd and sometimes simply leaden prose smothers this tale.
David Frampton, heir to the family fortune and position, has guarded his heart for years. But then he spots beautiful Phaedra Chancellor. Could he actually find love at his own father’s funeral?
British novelist Montefiore (The Mermaid Garden, 2011, etc.) sets her latest romance in Hampshire, England. In their Jacobean mansion, Antoinette Frampton weeps over the sudden death (while extreme skiing in the Swiss Alps) of her beloved husband, George, the patriarch of the family. Her open display of grief arouses only contempt from her icily dignified mother-in-law, the Dowager Lady Frampton. Yet, the dignity of the day itself implodes with the stunning news that Phaedra has come all the way from Paris to deliver. With encouragement from the rather unctuous Julius Beecher, George’s lawyer, Phaedra announces that she is George’s illegitimate daughter from a liaison preceding his marriage to Antoinette. To the shock of avaricious daughter-in-law Roberta, Phaedra further reveals that George has rewritten his will not only to include her, but also to present her with the fabulous family sapphires. Bombs dropped, the fallout brings each character’s weakness into relief—from Antoinette’s insecurities about George’s love to Lady Margaret’s fear of emotion to youngest son Tom’s tightly locked grief. Roberta remains suspicious, however, and begins to investigate Phaedra’s past. Yet, Phaedra becomes the catalyst to heal deep family rifts. Even snooty Roberta eventually melts under her kindness. Uneasily, Antoinette notices David and Phaedra growing ever more attracted to each other, despite their bloodlines’ frustrating any hope for love. All is not as it appears, however, and love can never be counted out of the equation. The book is filled with glamorous characters discreetly hiding their emotions and motivations. The mystery of Phaedra Chancellor winds up tame rather than sensual, predictable rather than shocking.
Often clichéd and sometimes simply leaden prose smothers this tale.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4516-7668-6
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 31, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
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
To her usual mix of love, mystery, and passion, Roberts (Sanctuary, 1997, etc.)—author of 115 romancers in some 17 years—adds Renaissance art and a decidedly Medici-like family: the Joneses of Maine. Dr. Miranda Jones, nearly six feet with flaming red hair and a glacial reserve, is an archeometrist who specializes in the analyzing and dating of Renaissance bronze sculpture. Miranda hopes to secure a world-class reputation for herself by authenticating a 15th-century statue of the Dark Lady, one of the mistresses of Lorenzo the Magnificent, as the undiscovered work of a young Michelangelo. Miranda's mother, Dr. Elizabeth Standford-Jones, the emotionally remote director of the Standjo art lab in Florence, has summoned her daughter from the family's Victorian cliffside home in Jones Point, Maine, to test the statue. Meanwhile, Miranda's father, equally remote, is an archaeologist who spends more time at his digs than at home. In fact, no one in the Jones family has made a successful run at marriage, a failure that Miranda and her alcoholic brother Andrew call the Jones curse. As for the statue, when it's discovered to be a fake, Miranda sets out to prove that someone stole the original. In this she's helped by gorgeous art thief Ryan Boldari (half-Italian, half-Irish), who's come to Jones Point to steal yet another bronze, which also turns out to be a forgery. Ryan's plan had been to use Miranda as a pawn, but now, naturally, he finds himself falling hard for her. While the two search for bronzes, a standard-issue romance-novel psychotic is stalking them. Most readers will twig to the killer's identity: Here, as always, Roberts's sexual tension is more compelling than her suspense. Perhaps it's time to take a sabbatical from the pink sweatshop and turn her considerable wit and narrative skills to a more original piece of work.
Pub Date: March 23, 1998
ISBN: 0-399-14387-4
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1998
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