by Santa Montefiore ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 5, 2013
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
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by Christina Lauren ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 10, 2018
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
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by Christina Lauren ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2019
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable...
An unlucky woman finally gets lucky in love on an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii.
From getting her hand stuck in a claw machine at age 6 to losing her job, Olive Torres has never felt that luck was on her side. But her fortune changes when she scores a free vacation after her identical twin sister and new brother-in-law get food poisoning at their wedding buffet and are too sick to go on their honeymoon. The only catch is that she’ll have to share the honeymoon suite with her least favorite person—Ethan Thomas, the brother of the groom. To make matters worse, Olive’s new boss and Ethan’s ex-girlfriend show up in Hawaii, forcing them both to pretend to be newlyweds so they don’t blow their cover, as their all-inclusive vacation package is nontransferable and in her sister’s name. Plus, Ethan really wants to save face in front of his ex. The story is told almost exclusively from Olive’s point of view, filtering all communication through her cynical lens until Ethan can win her over (and finally have his say in the epilogue). To get to the happily-ever-after, Ethan doesn’t have to prove to Olive that he can be a better man, only that he was never the jerk she thought he was—for instance, when she thought he was judging her for eating cheese curds, maybe he was actually thinking of asking her out. Blending witty banter with healthy adult communication, the fake newlyweds have real chemistry as they talk it out over snorkeling trips, couples massages, and a few too many tropical drinks to get to the truth—that they’re crazy about each other.
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable as well as free.Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2803-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
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