Cameron still has the heart of a romance writer, and readers are left in no doubt that Annie and Max will end well, no...
A handsome surgeon, a woman with a past and another predictable yawn from romantic-suspense-churner Cameron.
The Louisiana bayou parish of Toussaint (Kiss Them Goodbye, 2003) seems an unlikely place for the Savage brothers to open their new high-end plastic-surgery practice. But star surgeon Max has reasons to crave obscurity. Although he’s been acquitted of the crimes, two of his past girlfriends have been murdered, and that kind of past tends to shadow a man, even one so gorgeous he leaves women “trying to decide if they had seen him on the cover of GQ.” Lovely Annie Duhon has also come to Toussaint to hide, although she’s only traveled from nearby St. Martinville. Their attraction grows, but it takes sophisticate Max’s yearning for that urban rarity, bagels, to maneuver Annie back to her hometown for an ill-fated lunch that sets in motion demons from the past. Well, that and the horrifying dreams of fire and death that Annie has been experiencing. Can a local woman—her dialogue a weak attempt at French-Cajun phrasings—help poor Annie out? “That Annie, she is in danger,” says the local seer/pet-therapist Wazoo. “Folks laugh at me, but they not thinkin’.” Not everyone laughs in this oddly out-of-time backwater (“I don’t think I’ve ever seen down blankets in Louisiana,” notes one). Perhaps they should laugh, at least at the wooden dialogue and overlong sex scenes. In the hands of Cameron, a veteran of romance novels, sex is graphic and prolonged, but strangely clinical. Such descriptions as “the spasms of her climax clutched at his penis” dominate, and a minor character’s multi-orgasmic reaction to what is basically rape swings the effect from athletic to repulsive.
Cameron still has the heart of a romance writer, and readers are left in no doubt that Annie and Max will end well, no matter how many sexually exhausted bodies and half-developed plot lines float away down the bayou.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7783-2358-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2006
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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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