Pass on this one even if you like the shore.
Lucy Kincaid, a Nashville bar manager who wanted to go to art school, brings her mother’s ashes and German shepherd, Dolly Parton, to a town on the Virginia shore she’d never heard of until recently.
Just before Beth died of brain cancer, she told Lucy she had just inherited "some property" in Virginia, which would now be Lucy's. Lucy didn't know her mother had ever been to Virginia and wonders what the secrecy is about. The property turns out to be Winter Cottage, a mansion on hundreds of acres. Taylor (The View from Prince Street, 2016, etc.) takes more than 350 pages to tell readers what they can see coming in the first 30. Lucy meets Hank Garrison, a lawyer who's handling the inheritance and who, coincidentally, will inherit Winter Cottage himself if she chooses not to move in. Within a very short time, Lucy comes to decisions about the house; Hank; a 12-year-old named Natasha who needs a stable home; and her previously unknown father. There are inconsistencies beyond the way Lucy settles in so quickly after Taylor portrays her as too “restless” to stick around. For example, Lucy explores the attic and notes a trunk she can’t open without a key. Dozens of pages later she's back in the attic, where she and Natasha open the trunk just by pressing a button on the lock. Lucy and Natasha also watch videos Beth made of interviews with Winter Cottage’s last matriarch, Catherine Hedrick Buchanan, the woman who left Beth the house. Multiple storylines from past and present are rushed or never quite conclude, such as the identity of human bones found near Winter Cottage and the events that have driven Hank to want to “put everything on the line to bring this town back.” Lines such as “She finished up her eggs and dumped what remained of the veggies in the trash before washing the plate and setting it in the drying rack” are unnecessary to the story. Rather than allowing the action in a scene to illuminate characters' feelings, Taylor tells readers how to view her characters’ emotions, such as “Vulnerability and sadness drained the energy from Natasha.”
Pass on this one even if you like the shore.Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5039-0388-3
Page Count: 371
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.
Ten years after her teenage daughter went missing, a mother begins a new relationship only to discover she can't truly move on until she answers lingering questions about the past.
Laurel Mack’s life stopped in many ways the day her 15-year-old daughter, Ellie, left the house to study at the library and never returned. She drifted away from her other two children, Hanna and Jake, and eventually she and her husband, Paul, divorced. Ten years later, Ellie’s remains and her backpack are found, though the police are unable to determine the reasons for her disappearance and death. After Ellie’s funeral, Laurel begins a relationship with Floyd, a man she meets in a cafe. She's disarmed by Floyd’s charm, but when she meets his young daughter, Poppy, Laurel is startled by her resemblance to Ellie. As the novel progresses, Laurel becomes increasingly determined to learn what happened to Ellie, especially after discovering an odd connection between Poppy’s mother and her daughter even as her relationship with Floyd is becoming more serious. Jewell’s (I Found You, 2017, etc.) latest thriller moves at a brisk pace even as she plays with narrative structure: The book is split into three sections, including a first one which alternates chapters between the time of Ellie’s disappearance and the present and a second section that begins as Laurel and Floyd meet. Both of these sections primarily focus on Laurel. In the third section, Jewell alternates narrators and moments in time: The narrator switches to alternating first-person points of view (told by Poppy’s mother and Floyd) interspersed with third-person narration of Ellie’s experiences and Laurel’s discoveries in the present. All of these devices serve to build palpable tension, but the structure also contributes to how deeply disturbing the story becomes. At times, the characters and the emotional core of the events are almost obscured by such quick maneuvering through the weighty plot.
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.Pub Date: April 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-5464-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
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
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