This intriguing tale successfully combines reprisal and renewal.
A bookworm seeks retribution in this novel about eternal friendship.
Taylor’s protagonist is Eleanor Birch, a medical librarian. Eleanor always looked forward to gatherings with the glamorous Sasha Cole, her longtime friend from prep school. But Sasha makes an odd request at their latest lunch. Referring to her often absent boyfriend, adman Jon Neel, Sasha tells Eleanor: “If anything ever happens to me, I want you to get him.” Baffled by Sasha’s entreaty, Eleanor jokingly agrees to do so. Then Sasha dies in a car accident, crashing into the tour bus for the band Mother’s Laundry. Sasha’s will leaves Eleanor $50,000 to pay for her mission to “get” Jon. At Sasha’s funeral, Eleanor meets the man who will become her accomplice, actor Tony Lowe. Tony helps Eleanor move to New York City and amplify her beauty. He even comes up with a scheme for Eleanor’s crusade: “Listen, seduce and abandon.” To get to know Jon, Eleanor is forced to immerse herself in his bizarre world of advertising, the setting for much of the novel. She also befriends Jon’s mentally disabled brother, Walter, and Walter’s girlfriend, Susan Dietz. Eleanor eventually reaches her goal, only to find out how badly she misinterpreted Sasha’s wishes. In this layered story, Taylor has woven a heartstrings-tugging story of change (whether it’s growth or not is for readers to judge). Eleanor emerges from her chrysalis while Jon becomes a more well-rounded human. It’s almost as if someone has plans for them. Unfortunately, Jon’s agency co-workers remain largely vile people. Still, the author’s well-researched work transports readers and Eleanor, a stranger in a strange land, to the insular world of advertising. What’s odd is that Eleanor, a very intelligent woman, has such trouble getting a true handle on what Sasha meant for her to do. Was it simply vengeance for Jon’s shutting out Sasha, who notoriously picked the wrong men, or was it something more? But this book wouldn’t have been nearly as compelling without Eleanor’s confusion.
This intriguing tale successfully combines reprisal and renewal.Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64742-223-3
Page Count: 368
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A moving, realistic look at one woman’s post-divorce family life that manages to be both poignant and funny.
A recently divorced writer juggles a chaotic full house, a struggling career, and a confusing romantic life.
Lila Kennedy thought she had the perfect family—a loving mother, a doting stepfather, two wonderful daughters, and a great husband. She even wrote a self-help book about repairing a marriage, which was published a mere two weeks before her husband left her. After her own mother’s sudden death, Lila finds herself an unexpected single mom with her health-nut stepfather, Bill, for a roommate. When her long-absent actor father, Gene, moves in, things go from crowded to chaotic. When Gene isn’t talking about his memories of starring on a Star Trek–like television show, he’s starting fights with Bill. Perhaps the worst part is that Lila’s supposed to produce a new book about the unexpected direction her life has taken. She quickly finds that writing about her real-life romantic exploits (including the kind gardener Bill hired and the sexy single dad she lusts after at school pick-up) and the actual heartbreak that upended her family is easier said than done. Moyes creates a world that is believable and funny. It’s hilarious to read about the distinct characters in Lila’s life—such as her lentil-loving stepfather and egocentric biological father—interacting with each other. There’s plenty of drama here, but none of it feels forced. It all comes from flawed people doing their best to coexist and making plenty of mistakes along the way. Moyes combines the warmth of an Annabel Monaghan rom-com with the humanity of a Catherine Newman novel, creating a story that will provoke tears and laughter.
A moving, realistic look at one woman’s post-divorce family life that manages to be both poignant and funny.Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9781984879325
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Pamela Dorman/Viking
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
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