A fluffy romance with a happy ending that will satisfy even the stodgiest political analyst.
Love and politics make uncomfortable bedfellows in Ewens’ (Premiere: A Love Story, 2014, etc.) latest romantic caper.
Grady Malendar, the wealthy, spoiled son of U.S. Sen. Patrick Malendar, works hard to maintain his image as an irresponsible playboy. Unfortunately for him, his father is running for re-election, and Grady has been assigned a public relations rep to help him clean up his act. Kate Galloway is less than thrilled with her new assignment, but she takes on the Grady problem with aplomb. It won’t come as a surprise that Grady and Kate experience an immediate spark. They do their best to fight the attraction, though; Grady has secrets he’s trying to keep from the spotlight, and Kate is still recovering from a failed marriage and difficult divorce. Yet Grady finds himself drawn to the high-strung PR professional, who also has a vulnerable side, and Kate is intrigued by the kind, compassionate man she finds underneath Grady’s public persona. As their relationship blossoms, they’re forced to confront the demons of infidelity and determine whether complete trust in another person is truly possible. The arc of the narrative is certainly familiar, and the expected outcome is never really in jeopardy. The boy-meets-girl plot is a tried-and-true one, but the likability of Ewens’ protagonists places the book a notch above the typical romance. Kate suffers from insecurities that could doom many relationships, and Grady is a little too perfect (he’s rich, well-built, humble, and enjoys intellectual reading material), although he makes moves that are sure to set romance readers’ hearts aflutter. Ewens also does an admirable job of infusing some tension into the storyline, particularly regarding Grady’s secret (Is it smuggling? Drugs?), but without causing undue concern over the story’s conclusion. The dialogue is witty and full of cultural references. Set against a backdrop of national politics, Ewens’ novel is also a timely read as another election cycle commences.
A fluffy romance with a happy ending that will satisfy even the stodgiest political analyst.Pub Date: June 12, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9908571-3-6
Page Count: 298
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
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