Exalted subject, above-average historical fiction.
After her brilliant Girl in Hyacinth Blue (1999), Vreeland shows a deep knowledge of art once more but also veers toward message and melodrama.
When she’s 18, the historically real painter Artemisia Gentileschi of Rome (1593–1653) is raped by another artist, Agostino Tassi, an associate of her father’s (himself the painter who taught the gifted Artemisia her craft). When the rapist is tried by a court of the Inquisition, it’s more as if Artemisia is the criminal than Agostino—who gets off free (thanks partly to Artemisia’s father, his own interests trumping his daughter’s) while Artemisia, after torture and public humiliation, is left only with a destroyed reputation. With father’s “help,” however, a husband is found—a painter again, Pietro Stiattesi. Artemisia moves with him to his hometown of Florence, where she’s happy to be “in the art center of the world” and soon gives birth to a daughter. The marriage may even have potential for happiness—until Artemisia, a far better artist than Pietro, is the first admitted to the Accademia, whereupon shallow Pietro reverts to his womanizing ways. Artemisia (with daughter Palmira) will leave Pietro behind (when she’s summoned by a new patron to Genoa), but not before meeting Buonaretti the Younger, being introduced to the Medici court, and growing into a friendship with Galileo. Life in Genoa will give Artemisia great success—until her past comes even there to haunt her. She will paint in Venice, Rome, and Naples; will see Palmira (who has no interest in painting) into marriage, then at last have a reconciliation, in chill England, with her dying father. Readers may learn much from the tale, but they’ll have to pardon Palmira’s seeming less like a child from the 17th century than like a kid from the mall, ditto the author’s oft-clumsy expository intrusions (“ ‘Creating such a complex work, with all parts working harmoniously together, must have taken constant, absorbing thought’ ”).
Exalted subject, above-average historical fiction.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2002
ISBN: 0-670-89449-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
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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