There’s also plenty of narrative room for the promised sequel for those who can’t wait to find out what happens to Mary...
Slow-paced, emotionally charged romance; the first in a planned series by best-selling genre novelist Macomber (1225 Christmas Tree Lane, 2011, etc.).
Rose Harbor is sort of like Cabot Cove: beautiful, a touch staid, full of folk who look and act the part of locals. The difference is, there’s no mayhem of the sort that would give Angela Lansbury reason to get up in the morning in Rose Harbor, which lies about due west from Cabot Cove and on the opposite coast. There, Jo Marie Rose has just moved to open a B&B. She had found romance late in life (well, in her late 30s, anyway) only to suffer the death of her husband in far-off Afghanistan, the victim of a chopper crash high in the mountains. That’s a nice modern touch in a story that could essentially fit into the Nancy Drew line—if, that is, anything happened in Rose Harbor that involved action and not talk. The storyline about Jo Marie and the late Paul seems rushed and almost perfunctory, as if the author doesn’t quite trust it as a dramatic element, but she gets on surer ground when she introduces another character whose life has been made unhappy thanks to a machinery mishap. Macomber’s players are grief-ridden in different degrees and ways, and the saving grace of this book, full of explication and asides (“Josh had his own issues, his own scars. Richard seemed determined to leave matters as they were between them and to die alone”), is that the author recognizes that life is tough and that people need room to deal with that fact, dancing elaborately around one another and the issues until they get things figured out. And so it is in Rose Harbor, and if some of the narrative dashes the reader on mawkish shoals, at least there’s some nice smooching in the end (“[Y]ou’re an idiot, a very lovable idiot, but still an idiot”).
There’s also plenty of narrative room for the promised sequel for those who can’t wait to find out what happens to Mary Smith, Kent Shivers and the rest.Pub Date: Aug. 14, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-345-52892-6
Page Count: 354
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Sept. 26, 2012
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.
A promise to his best friend leads an Army serviceman to a family in need and a chance at true love in this novel.
Beckett Gentry is surprised when his Army buddy Ryan MacKenzie gives him a letter from Ryan’s sister, Ella. Abandoned by his mother, Beckett grew up in a series of foster homes. He is wary of attachments until he reads Ella’s letter. A single mother, Ella lives with her twins, Maisie and Colt, at Solitude, the resort she operates in Telluride, Colorado. They begin a correspondence, although Beckett can only identify himself by his call sign, Chaos. After Ryan’s death during a mission, Beckett travels to Telluride as his friend had requested. He bonds with the twins while falling deeply in love with Ella. Reluctant to reveal details of Ryan’s death and risk causing her pain, Beckett declines to disclose to Ella that he is Chaos. Maisie needs treatment for neuroblastoma, and Beckett formally adopts the twins as a sign of his commitment to support Ella and her children. He and Ella pursue a romance, but when an insurance investigator questions the adoption, Beckett is faced with revealing the truth about the letters and Ryan’s death, risking losing the family he loves. Yarros’ (Wilder, 2016, etc.) novel is a deeply felt and emotionally nuanced contemporary romance bolstered by well-drawn characters and strong, confident storytelling. Beckett and Ella are sympathetic protagonists whose past experiences leave them cautious when it comes to love. Beckett never knew the security of a stable home life. Ella impulsively married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended when he discovered she was pregnant. The author is especially adept at developing the characters through subtle but significant details, like Beckett’s aversion to swearing. Beckett and Ella’s romance unfolds slowly in chapters that alternate between their first-person viewpoints. The letters they exchanged are pivotal to their connection, and almost every chapter opens with one. Yarros’ writing is crisp and sharp, with passages that are poetic without being florid. For example, in a letter to Beckett, Ella writes of motherhood: “But I’m not the center of their universe. I’m more like their gravity.” While the love story is the book’s focus, the subplot involving Maisie’s illness is equally well-developed, and the link between Beckett and the twins is heartfelt and sincere.
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-533-3
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Jan. 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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