Devout chick-lit lovers could do worse than this breezy romance—but they’ve likely been there, read that.
A bright, totally predictable Bridget Jones–esque trifle.
Gorgeous, just-over-30 PR maven Lola seems to have it all: the hippest job in London (in-house rep for the trendy private club, Posh House); a body to die for; a chic, all-that posse of close girlfriends/drinking buddies; a sweet, deep-pocketed, devastatingly handsome boss, Charlie; not to mention an adorable pet rabbit. But one night, as she’s surveying the Posh House party crowd, Lola sees two of her ex-boyfriends huddled together with her ex-husband, and it hits her: She doesn’t have a man! Suddenly, Richard, the ex-husband and most troublesome of the bunch, seems irresistible. Of course, there are a few tiny obstacles to their fairy tale ending, including (but not limited to): his cash-flow problem, current girlfriend, willingness to cheat on said girlfriend, glaringly evident recurring cocaine abuse and denial of all of the above. So what’s a single successful girl to do? (Run, you say? Pshaw!) Flouting her friends’ advice, Lola sneaks around for illicit rendezvous with Richard, starts slacking off at work and effortlessly deludes herself for hundreds of pages. Unfortunately, it takes much less time for everyone else to figure out that Richard’s a cad and a cokehead, while Charlie, Lola’s rich, hot boss (who might as well be named Mister Darcy) is head-over-heels for her. So what might’ve been a thoroughly entertaining single-woman’s romp through the London dating scene becomes, instead, a mildly frustrating page-flipper bound to make any reader want to reach through the pulp and slap our heroine across the face. Luckily, Lola’s idiocy is one-dimensional—she’s eminently likable, if a bit too otherwise perfect to be true—so she’s fairly fun to follow as the story zips along toward it’s inevitable conclusion: Girl realizes error of her judgment and falls into the arms of the good guy who’s been in love with her all along. Cue sappy pop ballad.
Devout chick-lit lovers could do worse than this breezy romance—but they’ve likely been there, read that.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-373-89536-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Red Dress Ink
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2005
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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