Though grittier than the average Regency or Victorian romance, à la TV shows like Peaky Blinders, this is a new bottle with...
In the first novel of the Bareknuckle Bastards series, two outcasts meet at a glittering London ball but fall in love in the city’s darkest corners, beginning a saga that links a family across British society.
Devon “Devil” Culm, a rich crime lord and the oldest of a group of three half brothers born out of wedlock to a duke, is determined to stop one of them from breaking an old oath. When wallflower Lady Felicity Faircloth appears in his path, she seems to be the ideal instrument for his plan—till his attraction to her gets in the way. MacLean introduced Felicity as an aging debutante in The Day of the Duchess (2017) and awards her a cross-class romance in this novel. Though Felicity is the daughter of a marquess, a loss of popularity as she gets older prompts her to rashly tell her former friends at a society event that she's engaged to a reclusive duke. While her new “fiancé” has his own reasons for going along with her lie, she finds it impossible to commit to him after several intimate encounters with Devil in the rougher neighborhoods of London. While an aristocratic heroine who can easily slip away to meet a mystery man in a warehouse, a brothel, or a rooftop is not uncommon in the genre, the electric attraction that can help a reader ignore such implausibilities is not established convincingly enough at the start. This is partly because the backstory that can revitalize the novel's tropes—the hero who decides to use a woman for vengeance but loses his heart, the sheltered virgin who flouts convention and then discovers she’s been a pawn—isn’t fully clarified till the last quarter. As a result, the plot and characters’ motivations feel predictable and yet muddled. The climax and eventual resolution is satisfying but throws the weaknesses of the initial chapters into sharper relief.
Though grittier than the average Regency or Victorian romance, à la TV shows like Peaky Blinders, this is a new bottle with old wine—a Horatio Alger–style hero who pulled himself up by his bootstraps and a poor little rich Englishwoman whose problems amount to choosing between different wealthy suitors.Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-269197-2
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 17, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
PERSPECTIVES
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
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
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