No big love or surprises here.
Mustard errand gone horribly wrong.
Sitcom writer (Murphy Brown, Spin City) Dunn’s first novel is breathy and hurried, as if a self-absorbed friend (just a garden-variety narcissist, with some empathic abilities) were crying in her Cosmo. So what’s stopping our narratrix Alison Hopkins from finding “Big Love,” especially after getting her cheese moved by her long-term boyfriend and cohabitant, Tom Hathaway, he of the ugly leather couch he didn’t consult her about before buying? During their couple-affirming dinner party, Tom, sent out by Alison for Dijon, phones back to tell her that not only does the store not have any Grey Poupon but he no longer has room for her in his heart. That constricted space has been taken up by the lovely Kate, his ex-college flame reignited. Cut loose, Alison can wallow once more in her old-virgin misery (raised as an evangelical Christian, her deflowering was postponed until age 25, leaving her congenitally insensitive to pheromones and come-hithers) and hone diatribes for the column she writes for a Philly alternative paper. Rants abound on Romantic Market Value, the mating disadvantages faced by Christian women, and the unfair backlash against “Old Mothers,” women who dare to have children after 30 in defiance of that Time magazine article. A self-styled late bloomer at 32, Alison will have a fling with her managing editor, lose her column to a less competent but sluttier writer, and ruminate amply and far-too-many-other-adverbs-ly about the obsessions she shares with the busy and fulfilled girlfriends who nevertheless always have time for long wine-soaked grudge-fests or impromptu pregnancy tests. Glib dialogue keeps the story humming along, although even the most seasoned chick-lit fan will find its men improbably fickle, even for guys. The backstory is more arresting than the formulaic plot: an ironic insider’s take on born-agains may be just the thing for readers left behind.
No big love or surprises here.Pub Date: July 2, 2004
ISBN: 0-316-73815-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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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