A satisfying, engaging read though lacking Wiggs' typical effortlessness and buoyancy.
When writer Cormac "Mac" O’Neill comes to Bella Vista, Isabel Johansen struggles with her distracting attraction to him while she's planning her sister’s wedding and preparing to open a destination cooking school.
After nearly losing Bella Vista, the family’s idyllic hacienda-style home, and discovering a pile of family secrets—including Tess, a half sister she never knew about who wound up saving the estate—Isabel finally has the resources and support to pursue her dream of opening a cooking school. Completely updating her home to house the school and an elegant events venue, she and Tess have decided to launch the space with Tess’ wedding. It’s a busy summer, made even more complicated by the arrival of Mac, a nomadic writer hired to write their grandfather Magnus’ tragic and triumphant story, which includes his work in the Danish resistance during World War II. Mix in a young, pregnant beekeeper and an arrogant celebrity chef with whom Isabel shares a dark past, and the book has many satisfying elements, as well as the enchanting setting of Bella Vista, which “lived and breathed with the essence of life.” This novel is best-selling author Wiggs' follows-up to The Apple Orchard (2013), which told Tess' story, and though it's compelling, it never achieves the same level of pitch-perfect authenticity. Isabel remains a domestic goddess, but her reasons for not letting Mac in for most of the book become less understandable the longer she fervently hangs on to them, and her abrupt about-faces in the book's last scenes on so many aspects of her life make us wonder why they weren't so obvious much sooner.
Pub Date: June 24, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7783-1448-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Review Posted Online: June 14, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Simply brilliant.
Cat and Griffin continue their quest to bring just leadership to the three realms but must navigate hostile landscapes, magical creatures, and even a gladiator-style to-the-death battle before they can overcome the malevolent ruler of Tarva to unite it with Sinta.
Bouchet’s sophomore title (A Promise of Fire, 2016), the second in a planned trilogy, is as consummately crafted as the first. Cat has found happiness with her love, Griffin—the warrior who overcame the vicious, greedy Sinta royalty, winning his family the right to rule the kingdom—yet has hidden her true identity as the Lost Princess of Fisa, one of the other two realms of Thalyria. But Cat is more than a princess or warrior; more even than the legendary Kingmaker foretold in prophecies. In fact, as the blood heir to Fisa, she is a demigoddess. In Griffin’s mind she is the key to bringing the three realms together under their combined rule. In her mind, she’s the “harbinger of the end. Destroyer of realms.” Cat blames herself for the deaths of her siblings and is unable to see herself as a hero in any way, but when Griffin and his small band of warriors decide to take her advice and travel to find a magical race of creatures to help protect their borders, she refuses to stay behind. The quest leads them to the Chaos Wizard, a world of snow and ice, a maze navigated with magic thread, a classic riddle, and a battle with a Cyclops—with unexpected allies and a few jaw-dropping moments of true deus ex machina that make it clear Cat has some extraordinarily powerful friends in high places and that it looks like the gods are smiling on Cat and Griffin’s plans for a new world order. With breathtaking storytelling, high-octane action and adventure, intense romance, and threads to ancient Greek mythology that both ground the worldbuilding and spin it in new, imaginative directions, Bouchet sets the bar for high-concept fantasy romance.
Simply brilliant.Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-2604-6
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
A competent debut from an up-and-coming author.
An executive needs a wife to gain his grandmother’s blessing to become CEO of the family business.
Garrett Song is one step away from achieving his lifelong dream of heading his family’s Los Angeles fashion empire. Shocked at his grandmother’s announcement that she's chosen a Korean heiress for him to marry and that he must marry her if he wants to be promoted, Garrett lies and tells her that he's already engaged. Garrett has given his entire life to the company, but he refuses to let his family dictate whom he’ll marry, even if the marriage would allow the Songs to enter into the jae-bul, the wealthy, entitled echelon of Korean society. Enter Natalie Sobol, an up-and-coming HR professional in his firm. Natalie is attempting to gain custody of her 6-month-old niece after her sister and brother-in-law died in a car accident. When Garrett asks Natalie to agree to a fake marriage to thwart his grandmother’s plan, Natalie realizes the appearance of being happily married might sway the court to rule in her favor. Lee’s debut novel succeeds as a category romance (belonging to the branded lines of shorter Harlequin romances published every month), as the book is jammed with popular romance tropes such as familial duty, fake engagement, and corporate espionage. Natalie and Garrett are likable characters who want to achieve their goals on their own terms, and when they team up as husband and wife, they discover they make each other stronger both professionally and personally. It’s especially poignant that Natalie, who is mostly unfamiliar with her own Korean heritage, mends the discord between Garrett and his old-fashioned grandmother. Some of the plot twists seem contrived or underdeveloped, and Natalie’s urgency to adopt her niece doesn’t feel convincing since the baby spends most of the time off-page with the grandparents who also want custody. Nevertheless, it’s a quick, enjoyable read.
A competent debut from an up-and-coming author.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-335-20894-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Harlequin Desire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
