Lacks the zest of the earlier books and doubles down on the weak writing.
An elite Black community in coastal Maryland learns that the mayor has a “secret love child.”
Having set her previous Summer Beach books in the enclaves of Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, and Sag Harbor, New York, The View host Hostin closes up shop in Highland Beach, a resort community founded in the late 19th century by Frederick Douglass’ son. According to its website, it is "residential only, does not offer opportunities for tourism and cannot accommodate visits from the general public." Hostin definitely conveys that attitude as her character Olivia Jones pays a hesitant first visit to the snooty town, whose mayor is her long-estranged father, Charles "CJ" Jones, whose reelection will be compromised by her arrival. (Olivia’s complicated backstory is explained hastily and will remain opaque to those who haven’t read the first two books.) She is also meeting for the first time her evil grandmother, Christine Douglass-Jones (that Douglass), a woman who sees the death of two of her three children as more a reputation problem than a cause for mourning. Don’t feel sorry for me, she tells an old enemy, "I have money, class, and I’ve traveled to places you’ve only dreamed of." Maybe this is meant to be a laugh line, but some of the wooden dialogue, the tabloid-type gossip about Frederick Douglass, and the oddly placed, uninspiring descriptions of people’s attire are not. In one laugh-out-loud moment, a deus ex machinacharacter storms into a town meeting “wearing an ankle-length persimmon dress.” No designer or anything! As in previous books, characters rely on therapy to deal with their messy lives and romances (Olivia has managed to screw up a good thing she had going in Sag Harbor). The wisdom of Olivia’s therapist, Dr. LaGrange, saves the day: “Life is a journey. You hit a milestone and then you move on to your next goal. The work never really ends. Nor should it.” This beach trilogy, however, should.
Lacks the zest of the earlier books and doubles down on the weak writing.Pub Date: May 28, 2024
ISBN: 9780062994257
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 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
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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