A well-intentioned but disappointing tale of women’s military experiences, but one that will likely be of interest to Army...
A fictional chronicle of military women, including a few of the first to attend West Point.
Personal, professional, and romantic dramas abound in this this sequel to Doll and VanDyke’s, debut novel, Refined by Fire (2014). The first installment introduced Lori and Trish, two of the first female students at West Point in the 1970s. In this one, the authors take them to Germany, where they get their first taste of real Army life in Cadet Troop Leadership Training. Meanwhile, Maura, Amelia, and Anne from the first book struggle to find their paths as women in the military, balancing their personal desires and professional obligations. Maura, assigned as Lori’s sponsor, forms a bond with her, and any reservations Lori might have about not being assigned to a fellow West Pointer quickly fade. But Maura also must consider her growing attraction to Eric, a firmly off-limits colonel; Amelia wonders whether or not she should get married; and Anne is faced with a family crisis. After Lori and Trish head back to West Point, they and their college friends have their own problems to deal with, including sexism from their fellow students and those higher up the chain of command. Doll and VanDyke draw on their own military experience, and their attention to period details and military rules and regulations is commendable and persuasive. The book’s unusual subject—women in the military—is also refreshing, as are its myriad depictions of female friendship. Unfortunately, the story is less a propulsive narrative than a series of events strung together, and the prose is often stiff. It’s hard to imagine anyone in a real-life dinner conversation saying, for instance, “I love the opportunities that come from being in the Army.”
A well-intentioned but disappointing tale of women’s military experiences, but one that will likely be of interest to Army buffs.Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4575-3911-4
Page Count: 268
Publisher: Dog Ear
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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