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ONE SUMMER

Prim schoolteacher meets ex-con and finds happiness—in this highly predictable second hardcover romance from the bestselling Robards (Nobody's Angel, p. 425). When 17-year-old Johnny Harris was convicted of stabbing his cheerleader girlfriend to death 11 years ago, Rachel Grant—his 22- year-old, sexually repressed high-school English teacher—was outraged. True, Johnny was the well-known ``swaggering son of the local no-good'' who grew up on the wrong side of his Kentucky hometown—but though his rough beginnings were enough to prove his guilt in his neighbors' eyes, Rachel had once caught Johnny reading a book for pleasure and was convinced that such a boy could never kill. Now, it's 11 years later and Johnny, up for parole, has written to his former teacher requesting a job. Rachel hires him to work at her family's hardware store and thus, to the scandal of her friends, parents, and respectable middle-aged beau, enables the tough, virile ex-con to return home. At first Rachel is rather frightened of Johnny, who's no longer a rebellious teenager but a long-legged, tough-talking man 28 years old. But as the entire town gangs up on him, the teacher's protective instincts bloom, and her fervent defense of Johnny leads all too inevitably to a lusty clandestine affair (``I had a major case of the hots for you in high school,'' Johnny whispers. ``I still do''). The fact that another stabbing occurs causes few real disturbances in the mismatched couple's joy, and through a series of highly unlikely turns of fate, Johnny is cleared of both murders as his loyal teacher saves the day. Old-fashioned melodrama with nary a surprise.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1993

ISBN: 0-385-30836-1

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Delacorte

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1992

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A LITTLE LIFE

The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.

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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

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MAGIC HOUR

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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