A vigorous potboiler combining over-the-top melodrama with psychological realism.
An adolescent indiscretion leads to broken hearts and sexual enslavement in Wiens' third installment of the Love, Loss, and Honor series.
Bill Schmidt and Carrie Bennett, high school sweethearts living on ranches in Washington state’s Palouse region, break up when rich vamp Willa Roberts casually seduces Bill just before graduation. Crushed, Carrie moves out East for college and, while on a vacation in Greece, has a fling with sexy crime lord Nicolas. When she tries to leave, Nicolas says that he now owns her as a concubine and forces her to continue servicing him and other men whom he loans her out to. The abuse continues until Bill, still carrying a torch, shows up to rescue her from Nicolas’ island lair; impressed by his gallantry, Nicolas lets him and Carrie go. But the pair only grow more estranged, as Carrie has grown attached to Nicolas and wants to bear his child, and Bill now considers Carrie defiled. Back in Washington, Carrie is again forced into sexual servitude when she meets Rod, who beats her, prostitutes her to other men, and forces her to make porn videos. Bill again intervenes, thrashing Rod and whisking Carrie away to her parents’ ranch, where she recovers with the help of a remorseful Willa. Romance rekindles between Bill and Carrie—and then short-circuits when Bill has a flashback to the Nicolas episode (“I…I saw a man pawing you in your slut days,” he stammers, permanently killing the mood). Danger is afoot when Nicolas’ son, Nicolas Jr., arrives incognito, scheming to lure Carrie back into thralldom once again. The novel features a lurid, implausible narrative that includes a subplot about Bill’s cousin being possessed by the soul of Bill’s long-dead father. But it’s also a penetrating exploration of the emotional dynamics of relationships, probing the yearning, hesitancy, and prickliness that arise from lingering wounds. Wiens conveys this in subtle prose that evokes rich feeling from homely details: “Carrie walked over to remove the browned slices from the toaster. Reaching across for more bread, she had to press against him for a moment. Bill’s body was fixed, immobile, yet somehow tender”). The result is a soap opera with real depth.
A vigorous potboiler combining over-the-top melodrama with psychological realism.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 9798985408386
Page Count: 230
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Slow and plodding.
A young woman with a magical ability to harness light discovers she is royalty.
Talasyn is a foot soldier for her homeland of Sardovia, which has been under attack for the past decade by the powerful and evil Night Empire, a conflict known as the Hurricane Wars. Talasyn is an orphan with no knowledge of her family, but she assumes they might be the source of her rare, magical Lightweaving talent. During a battle with the forces of the Night Empire, Talasyn spars with Prince Alaric, a fierce warrior who is the son and heir to the Night Emperor. Talasyn is sent on a covert mission into Nenavar, a nearby matriarchy that has remained neutral during the Hurricane Wars, to try to access a Light Sever which could hone and refine her magic. Instead, she discovers she is the heir to their royal throne; she and her mother, now presumed dead, disappeared under mysterious circumstances when she was a year old. Alaric follows her into Nenavar, and they discover his magical ability to cast darkness and shadows produces shocking results when mixed with her Lightweaving. A few weeks later, the Night Empire defeats Sardovia and ends the Hurricane Wars, and the novel transitions to a tedious, slow-moving story of court intrigue and diplomacy. A group of Sardovian soldiers and refugees seek asylum in Nenavar, but Talasyn’s grandmother agrees to protect them only if Talasyn agrees to join the royal court and marry Alaric. The politics surrounding the impending wedding is the primary plot for the rest of the novel, and it’s a slog. The glacially slow pacing only serves to highlight the confusing world building and underdeveloped characters. It’s unclear why Alaric and Talasyn are attracted to each other, and their tentative romance is just as stuck in a rut as the plot.
Slow and plodding.Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9780063277274
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
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