A thought-provoking exploration of gender roles in the East and West and in the historical romance genre. It’s also a darn...
This historical romance doubles as an adventure story about two travelers in China who fall in love, only to discover that they’re on opposite sides in a political chess game.
Thomas (The Luckiest Lady in London, 2013, etc.) returns with sword-wielding heroine Catherine Blade. After a humdrum start, the novel evolves into an engrossing and unpredictable tale of political intrigue and betrayal. The action alternates between Chinese Turkestan (the current-day Xinjiang region of China) in the 1880s and London in the 1890s. Catherine is the child of a Chinese courtesan and an Englishman. While gathering intelligence for her Chinese politician stepfather in 1883, she meets and falls in love with a man she thinks of only as “the Persian.” When their paths cross in London 8 years later, Catherine discovers that he’s not Persian at all, but a landed British gentleman named Capt. Leighton Atwood. Although he still makes her heart beat faster, he’s engaged to another woman. Catherine pretends she’s merely a gently bred lady returning to her father’s homeland, but once again, she’s on a dangerous mission for her stepfather that she can fulfill only with Leighton’s help—in spite of his allegiances to his fiancee and to the British crown. The book’s biggest weakness is the villain, Lin, a cartoonish and unconvincing opponent. Its strength is the complexity of its main characters. Catherine is graceful and feminine but also deadly with a blade or her bare hands. “We would never question your manliness, would we?” Leighton teases her. Leighton is a natural caregiver, equally comfortable cooking for Catherine and saving her from bandits.
A thought-provoking exploration of gender roles in the East and West and in the historical romance genre. It’s also a darn good read.Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-425-26889-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Review Posted Online: July 2, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
PROFILES
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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