A gentle, frothy take on classic romance set pieces.
A lovely Irishwoman immigrates to Kentucky in this debut historical novel.
Arrabella “Ella” McCarthy expects to marry her childhood friend and remain in Ireland with her loving family for the rest of her life. But there are limited prospects for a talented Irishwoman in 1897, so when her American uncle proposes naming her his heir in exchange for moving to Kentucky and marrying a neighbor’s wealthy son, Ella can’t refuse. Her major consolation is that she’ll be able to bring four of her beloved horses to her new homeland. But to do so, she must survive a dangerous ocean crossing where unlucky circumstances make her a target for harassment and assault. If readers know that Ella disguises herself as a man in response, they will begin to understand the contours of this adventure. The first of several romantic options comes to her aid as well, and he soon admires her beauty, resilience, and humor. Landing in America presents Ella with two more dubious romantic choices in the form of the Brannock brothers, Padraig and Sean. The latter is Ella’s intended, and she soon realizes that as sons of a recently deceased hotel tycoon and landowner, they have a world of expectations on their shoulders. Sean copes by drinking and gambling, and Padraig locks his feelings away to better perform his many duties. Violence, passion, and easily avoidable miscommunications ensue before Ella can comfortably call herself the mistress of her new Kentucky estate. An early scene in Gentry’s romance where Ella’s Irish Catholic mother frankly discusses the pleasures of sex alerts readers that love and marriage will be framed in a contemporary, recognizable manner. Ella herself is a mix of a 21st-century woman and a historical creation; situations are crafted to display her bravery, brains, and compassion, but this unblemished perfection can read like a portrait of a saint. Despite these motley tones, this series opener presents a beautiful thesis: that true love shapes people to notice others’ needs before their own. Darker events near the end suggest an intriguing, if straightforward, continuation of the saga.
A gentle, frothy take on classic romance set pieces.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Archway Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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