The fresh air helps turn this office romance into a truly romantic adventure.
At a corporate retreat in Colorado, two co-workers compete for a cash prize, but they secretly hope to win each other’s hearts in this novel.
Raye Soto is one of 25 employees chosen for a week of team-building exercises in the great outdoors—and the chance to collect a $50,000 bonus. Her ex-husband’s substance abuse problem has left her to raise her son, Andy, by herself, and she needs money for his college tuition. She is paired with military veteran Desmond “Des” Emmett, who was recently transferred to the Denver office and needs money for his ailing little sister, Claudia. This conflict of interest is their most compelling trait—neither one of them is willing to sacrifice a loved one for the other, but to what extent will money come between them? Raye is Mexican-American, and Des has Irish ancestry. As they bond over scavenger hunts, karaoke, and stories of past heartbreak, they lament their dilemma even more when frantic phone calls from home bring more bad news. Des and Raye are heading up the mountainside to fix a hiking trail when a flash flood threatens to turn a friendly competition into a true race for survival. And their quick thinking could save the day for the entire company, making their cooperation more urgent—and ultimately more fun—than their rivalry. More sweet than steamy, McCune’s (Falling Like a Rock, 2014, etc.) love story unfolds at a realistically cautious pace while offering intriguing lead characters. Office politics frequently change the temperature from chilly to heated and back to neutral. Although Des spars with Raye over discrimination in the workplace, he champions her as his teammate. He even stands up for executive assistant Julia Flora after Raye tells him she has been overlooked for professional development. Raye, meanwhile, can fend for herself. Aside from a few minor errors (“Yeah Tell me about the staff room”; “Desnoted”; “Nothing to ityet”), the novel is a swift and satisfying read.
The fresh air helps turn this office romance into a truly romantic adventure.Pub Date: March 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-77223-351-3
Page Count: 236
Publisher: Imajin Books
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
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
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