An enjoyable tale for Regency fans who like revenge plots in their romances.
The prospect of an undesirable marriage drives a lady to seek refuge in a rogue’s tavern in this fifth installment of a series.
In this Regency romance, Lady Regina Berkly faces a preposterous arranged union when her father, the Earl of Hedgewick, says she will marry a sickly 14-year-old marquess the very next morning. As part of the upper class, Regina never expected to marry for love, but to confront “no hope of happiness” was taking duty too far. Mere hours before her wedding, she runs away and soon meets the notorious “Scoundrel of St. Giles,” Carlton Guthrie. Carlton seems to feel pity for Regina, offering her shelter in his tavern. But he is concealing an ulterior motive: He has a personal vendetta against Regina’s father. Past attempts at retribution have taught him that “bringing a peer to his knees was no simple task.” Regina will serve as unwitting leverage, with her virtue at stake. Over time, Carlton’s commitment to the scheme falters. He is drawn to Regina, yet when she is open to intimacy, he realizes he can no longer toy with her ruination: “Ye’ve a future that cannot include me, luv, and I’d hate to be yer biggest regret.” Regina’s presence at the tavern is eventually discovered, and when she is pulled away from Carlton, he realizes “she’s the dream I dare not allow myself to have.” Carlton must decide if he can trade his desire for vengeance for Regina’s love. In this latest entry in the Diamonds in the Rough series, Barnes’ (The Infamous Duchess, 2019, etc.) Regency setting is a little less lush than those offered by some other historical romance novelists, lacking the assortment of fashion, decorative, and etiquette details that create an immersive story. But the disparity between Regina’s wealthy family and the poverty of St. Giles is effectively contrasted. The tale becomes a bit stagnant in the middle since Regina is in hiding with limited possibilities for appearing in action scenes or dealing with the supporting cast. But once the heroine comes out of hiding, the third-act momentum increases, resulting in a vibrant and satisfying conclusion.
An enjoyable tale for Regency fans who like revenge plots in their romances.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2020
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 311
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A smoothly written contemporary caper paired with a murder mystery and a little meet-the-Jetsons futurism. No one does...
Written under her real name and her pseudonym, two books in one from megaselling Roberts/Robb.
Book one: Laine Tavish, gorgeous redhead and owner of a small-town antique store, isn’t about to tell the cops that she knew the old man who was hit by a car right outside her shop. Just before he took his dying breath, she recognized Willy Young, partner in crime to Big Jack O’Hara, her father. Their biggest heist: millions of dollars in hot diamonds. Her father went to prison, but not Willy, whose last words were “left it for you.” What did he leave—and where? Enter Max Gannon, insurance investigator and all-around stud, with thick, wavy, run-your-fingers-through-it hair, tawny eyes that remind Laine of a tiger, and a delicious Georgia drawl. He beds Laine pronto, and they solve the case. But some of the diamonds are still missing. . . . Book two: it’s 50 years later, and New York traffic is slower than ever: just try getting a helicab on a rainy day. But Samantha Gannon, author of a bestseller called Hot Rocks based on her grandparents’ experiences in the long-ago case, eventually makes it home from the airport to find her house-sitter Andrea dead, throat cut. Another investigation begins, spearheaded by Eve Dallas, a tough-talking but very appealing New York cop married to Roarke, a rich, eccentric genius who just barely manages to stay on the right side of the law. Is the murderer after the rest of the diamonds? And is he or she related to the master thief who betrayed Samantha’s great-grandfather? There are more burning questions, and Eve wants answers—but, first, get Central on the telelink and program the Autochef for pastrami on rye.
A smoothly written contemporary caper paired with a murder mystery and a little meet-the-Jetsons futurism. No one does Suspense Lite better than Nora.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-399-15106-0
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2003
A deeply satisfying novel, both sensuously vivid and remarkably poignant.
Norwegian novelist Jacobsen folds a quietly powerful coming-of-age story into a rendition of daily life on one of Norway’s rural islands a hundred years ago in a novel that was shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize.
Ingrid Barrøy, her father, Hans, mother, Maria, grandfather Martin, and slightly addled aunt Barbro are the owners and sole inhabitants of Barrøy Island, one of numerous small family-owned islands in an area of Norway barely touched by the outside world. The novel follows Ingrid from age 3 through a carefree early childhood of endless small chores, simple pleasures, and unquestioned familial love into her more ambivalent adolescence attending school off the island and becoming aware of the outside world, then finally into young womanhood when she must make difficult choices. Readers will share Ingrid’s adoration of her father, whose sense of responsibility conflicts with his romantic nature. He adores Maria, despite what he calls her “la-di-da” ways, and is devoted to Ingrid. Twice he finds work on the mainland for his sister, Barbro, but, afraid she’ll be unhappy, he brings her home both times. Rooted to the land where he farms and tied to the sea where he fishes, Hans struggles to maintain his family’s hardscrabble existence on an island where every repair is a struggle against the elements. But his efforts are Sisyphean. Life as a Barrøy on Barrøy remains precarious. Changes do occur in men’s and women’s roles, reflected in part by who gets a literal chair to sit on at meals, while world crises—a war, Sweden’s financial troubles—have unexpected impact. Yet the drama here occurs in small increments, season by season, following nature’s rhythm through deaths and births, moments of joy and deep sorrow. The translator’s decision to use roughly translated phrases in conversation—i.e., “Tha’s goen’ nohvar” for "You’re going nowhere")—slows the reading down at first but ends up drawing readers more deeply into the world of Barrøy and its prickly, intensely alive inhabitants.
A deeply satisfying novel, both sensuously vivid and remarkably poignant.Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-77196-319-0
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Biblioasis
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
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