Even the staunchest fans of the Santangelo family may be disappointed with this rather thin addition to the saga.
Collins (The Power Trip, 2013, etc.) returns with the story of her beloved Lucky’s teenage years.
Growing up in the lap of luxury isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. Despite living in a palace replete with tennis courts and servants to attend to her every whim, Lucky realizes that she and her brother, Dario, are just prisoners in a posh jail. Certainly her mobster father, Gino, wants to keep his children safe (after all, their mother was murdered in the swimming pool), but at 15, Lucky is already champing at the bit to live a little more on the wild side. Ironically, being sent to an elite boarding school in Switzerland is her big chance. At L’Evier, she meets Olympia Stanislopoulos, who quickly initiates her into the dark arts of smoking, drinking and sneaking out to meet boys. Sexually curious, Lucky is eager to practice “almost.” Soon enough, Lucky is kicked out of school, angering Gino, who ships her off to another school, where the shenanigans resume. Lucky stews over her crush on Marco (her father’s driver), Gino indulges in an affair with a movie star (the delightfully named Marabelle Blue), Dario begins a potentially dangerous affair, and Olympia drags Lucky into more trouble. Despite all the (not particularly explicit) action, Lucky’s tale has a fairly flat plotline. Part of the trouble in building tension lies with Lucky’s own gimlet-eyed stoicism. She is, indeed, her father’s daughter, and nothing will distract her from her ultimate goal of becoming Gino’s successor. Even the potentially catastrophic arranged marriage to a senator’s son is met with bemused calculation rather than horror.
Even the staunchest fans of the Santangelo family may be disappointed with this rather thin addition to the saga.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-250-05093-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2014
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
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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