Wilson has a knack for raffish characterization but little desire for structure; stuffing two decades of life on the fringe...
From Wilson (Loose Jam, 1990, not reviewed), a story of life and love on the road that has a few surprises and some enjoyable moments.
Raphael (formerly known as Eddie) once had a love affair with someone he never forgot: Bella Kipper, a beleaguered single mother of two little girls. Raphael is a minor poet with major pretensions, and Bella’s no prize for a womanizer like him, what with her frizzy black hair, hawklike nose, and world-weary air. But all the same, Raphael worships the ground her chapped heels walk on—even though Bella twits Raphael mercilessly about his literary ambitions—and the two begin a brief, stormy affair. Living in a coastal California town with little to do but wait tables, daydream, and whiff the mingled smells of kelp and patchouli, the lovers fight—and part company. Starting at the historical moment when being stoned was still a statement and the Doobie Brothers were the happening band, Raphael begins a desultory journey of sorts, criss-crossing the country and occasionally hearing news of Bella, who seems to be always one step ahead of him. Her daughters Darshon and Sage grow up more or less on the road, suffering through their mother’s hegira somehow and providing much-needed comic relief with obligatory teenager snottiness. As Eddie (who takes back his more prosaic original name) travels to and through New Orleans, Texas, Boston, and innumerable other places, he meets up with assorted seedy characters, none of whom has anything to teach him that he doesn’t already know. In due time, he hooks up with Bella again, and it’s as if they’d just met: Eddie is still inexplicably awestruck by the self-absorbed Bella.
Wilson has a knack for raffish characterization but little desire for structure; stuffing two decades of life on the fringe into 300 pages is no small feat, but a plot would’ve been nice.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2001
ISBN: 1-56512-297-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2000
Hoover is one of the freshest voices in new-adult fiction, and her latest resonates with true emotion, unforgettable...
Sydney and Ridge make beautiful music together in a love triangle written by Hoover (Losing Hope, 2013, etc.), with a link to a digital soundtrack by American Idol contestant Griffin Peterson.
Hoover is a master at writing scenes from dual perspectives. While music student Sydney is watching her neighbor Ridge play guitar on his balcony across the courtyard, Ridge is watching Sydney’s boyfriend, Hunter, secretly make out with her best friend on her balcony. The two begin a songwriting partnership that grows into something more once Sydney dumps Hunter and decides to crash with Ridge and his two roommates while she gets back on her feet. She finds out after the fact that Ridge already has a long-distance girlfriend, Maggie—and that he's deaf. Ridge’s deafness doesn’t impede their relationship or their music. In fact, it creates opportunities for sexy nonverbal communication and witty text messages: Ridge tenderly washes off a message he wrote on Sydney’s hand in ink, and when Sydney adds a few too many e’s to the word “squee” in her text, Ridge replies, “If those letters really make up a sound, I am so, so glad I can’t hear it.” While they fight their mutual attraction, their hope that “maybe someday” they can be together playfully comes out in their music. Peterson’s eight original songs flesh out Sydney’s lyrics with a good mix of moody musical styles: “Living a Lie” has the drama of a Coldplay piano ballad, while the chorus of “Maybe Someday” marches to the rhythm of the Lumineers. But Ridge’s lingering feelings for Maggie cause heartache for all three of them. Independent Maggie never complains about Ridge’s friendship with Sydney, and it's hard to even want Ridge to leave Maggie when she reveals her devastating secret. But Ridge can’t hide his feelings for Sydney long—and they face their dilemma with refreshing emotional honesty.
Hoover is one of the freshest voices in new-adult fiction, and her latest resonates with true emotion, unforgettable characters and just the right amount of sexual tension.Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4767-5316-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 6, 2014
A clever, romantic, sexy love story.
The much-loved royal romance genre gets a fun and refreshing update in McQuiston’s debut.
Alex Claremont-Diaz, son of the American President Ellen Claremont, knows one thing for sure: He hates Henry, the British prince to whom he is always compared. He lives for their verbal sparring matches, but when one of their fights at a royal wedding goes a bit too far, they end up falling into a wedding cake and making tabloid headlines. An international scandal could ruin Alex’s mother’s chances for re-election, so it’s time for damage control. The plan? Alex and Henry must pretend to be best friends, giving the tabloids pictures of their bromance and neutralizing the threat to Ellen's presidency. But after a few photo ops with Henry, Alex starts to realize that the passionate anger he feels toward him might be a cover for regular old passion. There are, naturally, a million roadblocks between their first kiss and their happily-ever-after—how can American political royalty and actual British royalty ever be together? How can they navigate being open about their sexualities (Alex is bisexual; Henry is gay) in their very public and very scrutinized roles? Alex and Henry must decide if they’ll risk their futures, their families, and their careers to take a chance on happiness. Although the story’s premise might be a fantasy—it takes place in a world in which a divorced-mom Texan Democrat won the 2016 election—the emotions are all real. The love affair between Alex and Henry is intense and romantic, made all the more so by the inclusion of their poetic emails that manage to be both funny and steamy. McQuiston’s strength is in dialogue; her characters speak in hilarious rapid-fire bursts with plenty of “likes,” “ums,” creative punctuation, and pop-culture references, sounding like smarter, funnier versions of real people. Although Alex and Henry’s relationship is the heart of the story, their friends and family members are all rich, well-drawn characters, and their respective worlds feel both realistic and larger-than-life.
A clever, romantic, sexy love story.Pub Date: June 4, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-31677-6
Page Count: 432
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
BOOK TO SCREEN
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