A short, light, but messy tale of self-discovery.
Felsher’s debut novel tells the story of one man’s search for his stolen bike during a chaotic summer of 2010.
Just before he’s set to begin work at an investment firm, Rusty is living in a small town in Connecticut, nursing a crush on a woman who works at the local bookstore and preparing for a bicycle race—that is, until his bike gets stolen by someone in a white pickup truck. The bike was a gift from his father and holds great sentimental value, and he’ll do anything to get it back. His quest eventually leads him to meet Jade, a local bartender, and her married boyfriend, Richard, a man of great wealth who may be able to help Rusty with his new career. Rusty also asks out Rebecca, the bookshop woman, and their flirtation becomes something more substantial. On top of all this, Rusty must deal with his former roommate, now a novelist, who takes a break from his hedonistic pursuits to offer Rusty advice, such as, “When you just do things, knowing that everything is true within yourself and you’re merely a character within God’s novel, you have to step aside and ask yourself what kind of character you want to be.” Felsher often writes with exuberance and verve in this debut. However, readers won’t usually have as much fun as the author does, as the characters’ behaviors are inconsistent and often confusing; Rusty, in particular, has cloudy motivations that seem to shift from scene to scene, and much of the plot seems propelled by his inability to stay on task. Rusty’s narration is also unpleasantly mawkish in a way that betrays no self-awareness: “She looked up at me with a lonely tear sliding down her cheek. I nodded, recognizing that she was the most loving and fragile woman I had come across in quite some time.” Overall, the book has all the ingredients of a fun romp, but it never quite coalesces into one.
A short, light, but messy tale of self-discovery.Pub Date: May 6, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5115-1558-0
Page Count: 182
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 29, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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