A delightfully engaging combination of Lassie and The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin.
A debut novel chronicles the escapades of an intrepid canine displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
Buck is a 2-year-old, mixed-breed, 55-pound family dog. Despite his dysfunctional human family, the Browns, Buck’s basic needs are met and he is loved. That all changes when he is swept away by Mississippi River floodwaters caused by Katrina. Swimming frantically and then finding a board to climb on, Buck eventually is tossed back onto dry land. Cold, hungry, and scared, he must find a way to survive. The next day, he begins walking—and walking. Finally, he spots a house with a chicken coop. But when he scores a bird, a farmer appears, fires a gun, and hits Buck with a spray of pellets. After a night of rest, the canine follows a road into the small community of Lyman, Mississippi, where he finds a main-street grocery store. He sits down, hoping someone will give him food. Here, he meets the two small pooches, also orphaned by the storm, who will become his temporary travel buddies: Lady, a blond Pekingese, and Teddy, a Jack Russell terrier. Lawrence-Verploegen’s tale is now off to a well-paced start. Buck shares the food he receives from a kindly woman, and he and his new crew head off for several adventures, one of which lands Teddy at the veterinarian. Buck and Lady return to the road, winding up at the home of a wealthy widow, Wilma Witherspoon, where they are welcomed and receive new names: Hoss and Angel. The author uses the pair’s stay with Witherspoon to insert diverse bits and pieces of Mississippi history into the narrative, including a look at Chinese immigration to the state and the region’s battle to combat hookworm. The short stories are intriguing but they divert attention from the primary plot. The linguistic tenor of these tales and the narrative in general seems more appropriate for an adolescent audience than for adults. Still, this heroic dog will evoke fond memories of canine stars of yesteryear. The enjoyable story regains steam when Buck/Hoss unexpectedly finds himself on the move again, his life following a trajectory that will lead him to his true mission.
A delightfully engaging combination of Lassie and The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-72833-552-0
Page Count: 222
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A heartbreaking, laugh-provoking, and absolutely Ephron-esque look at the beauty and fragility of everyday life.
A woman faces a health crisis and obsesses over a local accident in this wonderful follow-up to Sandwich (2024).
Newman begins her latest with a quote from Nora Ephron: “Death is a sniper. It strikes people you love, people you like, people you know—it’s everywhere. You could be next. But then you turn out not to be. But then again, you could be.” It sets an appropriate tone for a story that is just as full of death and dread as it is laughter. Two years after the events of Sandwich, Rocky is back home in Western Massachusetts and happily surrounded by family—her daughter, Willa, lives with her and her husband, Nick, while applying to Ph.D. programs; her widowed father, Mort, has moved into the in-law apartment behind their house. When a young man who graduated from high school with Rocky’s son, Jamie, is hit by a train, Rocky finds herself spiraling as she thinks about how close the tragedy came to her own family. She’s also freaking out about a mysterious rash her dermatologist can’t explain. Both instances are tailor-made for internet research and stalking. As Rocky obsessively googles her symptoms and finds only bad news (“Here’s what’s true about the Internet: very infrequently do people log on with their good news. Gosh, they don’t write, I had this weird rash on my forearm? And it turned out to be completely nothing!”), she also compulsively checks the Facebook page of the accident victim’s mother. Newman excels at showing how sorrow and joy coexist in everyday life. She masterfully balances a modern exploration of grief with truly laugh-out-loud lines (one passage about the absurdity of collecting a stool sample and delivering it to the doctor stands out). As Rocky deals with the byzantine frustrations of the medical system, she also has to learn, once more, how to see her children, husband, father, and herself as fully flawed and lovable humans.
A heartbreaking, laugh-provoking, and absolutely Ephron-esque look at the beauty and fragility of everyday life.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9780063453913
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
PERSPECTIVES
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