Fans of E.L. James will likely find this novel worth a look.
In Anthony’s debut, a dashing, dominant businessman sweeps a lonely girl off her feet, and they quickly fall into a submissive/dominant relationship.
This first installment of a planned trilogy chronicles the love affair between the razor-tongued Eva Chase and the super suave, slightly mysterious Mr. Alexander Mason and has many parallels to the smash-hit Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy; indeed, that series’ fans may have difficulty putting it down. Eva is an ambitious, driven businesswoman who has worked her way up to the top at Prime House Investments and plans to stay there. However, the sweet-smelling, muscular Alexander throws a wrench in those plans. From the moment of their first meeting, when Eva literally tumbles into his arms during a drunken bar dance on her birthday, she is powerless against him. She soon finds herself divulging to Alexander her deepest secrets and desires. The two embark upon a stormy, push-and-pull relationship, each struggling for power. All the while, Eva tries to keep her life together personally and professionally; luckily, the brazen brunette has her two best friends, Sam and Chrissy, to help. While the overall dom/sub theme is clear, it becomes a bit unclear as to who exactly is dominant and who is submissive as the novel progresses; will Anthony put Eva in charge, as she is in every other aspect of her life? The answer is still vague at the novel’s conclusion, which may frustrate some readers. Although Eva may strike readers as a bit grating at times—who is really that perfect or that driven?—her cat-and-mouse relationship with Alexander is consistently believable. That said, readers may want to know more about the relatively one-dimensional Alexander—more descriptions of him, more dialogue from him, and perhaps a peek into his storied and steamy past.
Fans of E.L. James will likely find this novel worth a look.Pub Date: Nov. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-1479383115
Page Count: 284
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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