Smart and bracingly funny.
A domineering hellion who couldn’t find her feminine side with a GPS and a flashlight decides to turn her life upside-down and tap into her inner Doris Day.
By all rights this should be something from the lower depths of chick-lit hell. Krum (Walk of Fame, 2001) gives us a fierce Manhattan criminal prosecutor who makes old ladies cry on the stand and men run for the hills. Far from critiquing Jane Spring, the author admires this Army brat who refers disdainfully to the population at large as civilians (no motivation, no discipline) and boasts a father whose idea of a Christmas gift is the new Patton DVD. Oblivious to the destruction she leaves behind her, Spring bulldozes through life, dispensing unasked-for advice on technique to her quickly fleeing lovers and somehow believing that she has everything a man desires in a woman. After overhearing some men in the office talk about what a rhymes-with-witch she is—hot, but not worth the trouble is the consensus—Spring realizes there’s something wrong with her Sherman tank approach, and her world starts to come unglued. She’s gearing up for a big trial involving a cop shooting and feeling pressured by the case’s detective (one of several men Krum keeps juggling around Spring as romantic possibilities), who admonishes her not to screw it up by insulting the judge the way she did during an earlier trial. Then Spring catches a Doris Day movie marathon, which prompts a life-changing idea that she attacks with her usual thoroughness. Newly minted as a snappily dressed, somewhat prudish, but always upbeat blonde, she soon has the jury eating out of the palm of her hand, her co-workers delighted and no-longer-skittish men banging down her door. The expected third-act travails and will-she-or-won’t-she fake dramas are predictable, but for the most part this is a winning fable about the seemingly lost art of being a lady.
Smart and bracingly funny.Pub Date: July 7, 2005
ISBN: 0-670-03417-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
A little slower-paced than the typical Roberts romantic mystery (Black Hills, 2009, etc.) but every bit as steamy. It may...
A dog trainer and a wood craftsman dance around love and danger in the Pacific Northwest.
Fiona Bristow is the only victim who got away from serial killer George Perry. Now a copycat, inspired and perhaps guided by the jailed Perry, is on her trail. After Perry murdered her fiancé, Fiona rebuilt her life as a dog trainer and search-and-rescue expert on lovely Orcas Island. She’s recently met talented woodworker Simon Doyle and his misbehaving puppy Jaws, and her dormant love life is about to revive as she and the reluctant Simon slowly build a complicated relationship. Though she’s done her best to overcome her fears and make herself whole again, this new series of killings, with herself as the ultimate target, can’t help but strain her nerves. As the police and FBI track the killer, a persistent reporter makes Fiona’s life more difficult by printing information about her life and location. Through it all, Fiona keeps working. As she continues to go on rescue missions with a team that may soon include Simon and Jaws, her friends help to keep her balanced. But ultimately it will be the trust she has built up with Simon and the talents of her dogs that will change her life forever.
A little slower-paced than the typical Roberts romantic mystery (Black Hills, 2009, etc.) but every bit as steamy. It may well add dog lovers to her legion of fans.Pub Date: July 7, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-399-15657-1
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2010
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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