Spiteful roman à clef with some funny lines, though veddy British and brittle overall.
A farce from Holden (Farm Fatale, 2000, etc.) based on the oh-so-’80s notion that books are the new rock ’n’ roll, writers more fascinating than movie stars.
Grace Armiger, book publicist, mingles with England’s literary elite at exhaustingly hip parties. Scurrilous rumors and scandal are served up with the hors d’oeuvres as the bestselling authors of buzzworthy books drink themselves blind and backbite like mad. Is it true that Shooting Up, a coming-of-ager set in the South London projects, was actually not written by the spiky-haired, haggard young thing on the back cover? Did Airhead really win the Literary Review’s Bad Sex Award for the silliest spank-and-wank scene? Grace is distracted by Henry Moon, a raffishly sexy adventure author who goes down the Amazon as casually as ordinary mortals take the Tube. And then there’s Red Campion, action-movie star and global sex symbol, who wants her to have the first peek at what she assumes is a Hollywood kiss-and-tell. Enter Belinda Black, tabloid reporter with designs on the Globe’s celebrity-interviews column, written by the plump and plain Mo Mills, who knows just how to fawn over the rich and famous. But Belinda knows she could do better, and she needs a killer story, true or not. If only she could get her hands on the galleys of Red’s book! Lo and behold, he pressed a proof copy into Grace’s hands shortly before bedding her—and so Grace is the first to find out that it’s not Hollywood at all but a science-fiction potboiler about the US President turning into a frog (would Americans notice?). Fortunately, she’s distracted by a charming new book, The Neds of Twinky Bay. But who is its mysterious author? Could it be Henry? When the title lands on the bestseller lists, all is revealed, love triumphs, and wicked Belinda gets her comeuppance.
Spiteful roman à clef with some funny lines, though veddy British and brittle overall.Pub Date: March 5, 2003
ISBN: 0-452-28393-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Plume
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2002
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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