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
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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