Coming back to her small hometown to regroup, Laura Bailey sets her sights on expanding her family’s lodge-and-diner business. She won't let high school adversary Eddie Jessup stand in her way with his new project, no matter how attractive or alluring he might be.
Laura Bailey couldn’t wait to leave her small town behind for college and the big city, but when the up-and-coming marketing star loses her job and her fiance in one fell swoop, she returns, determined to streamline and possibly expand her family’s business while she considers how to get back to her city life. When she learns that a big resort development company is trying to build on property nearby, she sees them as a threat and will do everything in her power to shut them down. So what if her high school crush with movie-star looks, Eddie Jessup, is the local contractor in charge of the project and that his own business expansion depends on success? He was a screwed-up, arrogant jerk then, and from what she can tell, not much has changed. So why does she feel that she wants to spend more time with him, rather than less, and that every minute in his company makes him even more attractive? Eddie’s had a thing for Laura Bailey for as long as he can remember, and she’s as annoying and meddling as ever. Trouble is, he thinks she may be on to something, and as they sift through what’s best for their town, their businesses and each other, he can’t deny that her passion, determination and intelligence are a perfect package—one he’s been waiting for all his life. Too bad her heart's set on getting back to the city. This is the latest installment of the Sierra Falls series, and Wolff has created an amiable, relatable community with primary and secondary characters that are well-drawn and convincing. Laura starts out as screechy and nearly unlikable but softens as she moves through her insecurities and comes to embrace herself, her hometown and her new love. A moving, engaging romance.
Pub Date: Dec. 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-425-25116-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
To her usual mix of love, mystery, and passion, Roberts (Sanctuary, 1997, etc.)—author of 115 romancers in some 17 years—adds Renaissance art and a decidedly Medici-like family: the Joneses of Maine. Dr. Miranda Jones, nearly six feet with flaming red hair and a glacial reserve, is an archeometrist who specializes in the analyzing and dating of Renaissance bronze sculpture. Miranda hopes to secure a world-class reputation for herself by authenticating a 15th-century statue of the Dark Lady, one of the mistresses of Lorenzo the Magnificent, as the undiscovered work of a young Michelangelo. Miranda's mother, Dr. Elizabeth Standford-Jones, the emotionally remote director of the Standjo art lab in Florence, has summoned her daughter from the family's Victorian cliffside home in Jones Point, Maine, to test the statue. Meanwhile, Miranda's father, equally remote, is an archaeologist who spends more time at his digs than at home. In fact, no one in the Jones family has made a successful run at marriage, a failure that Miranda and her alcoholic brother Andrew call the Jones curse. As for the statue, when it's discovered to be a fake, Miranda sets out to prove that someone stole the original. In this she's helped by gorgeous art thief Ryan Boldari (half-Italian, half-Irish), who's come to Jones Point to steal yet another bronze, which also turns out to be a forgery. Ryan's plan had been to use Miranda as a pawn, but now, naturally, he finds himself falling hard for her. While the two search for bronzes, a standard-issue romance-novel psychotic is stalking them. Most readers will twig to the killer's identity: Here, as always, Roberts's sexual tension is more compelling than her suspense. Perhaps it's time to take a sabbatical from the pink sweatshop and turn her considerable wit and narrative skills to a more original piece of work.
Pub Date: March 23, 1998
ISBN: 0-399-14387-4
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1998
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