by Suzie Gilbert ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 22, 2020
This zany rescue tale starring an eagle offers readers a great escape.
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A tycoon’s young wife and an injured bald eagle take flight in this eco-woke suspense story.
In Gilbert’s novel, graying billionaire Adam Matheson believes only his mesmerizingly beautiful young wife sets him apart from other men in his class. Adam became besotted with Luna when she managed his small private zoo, and following a brief courtship, she became his fourth wife. But after six months of marriage, bird-loving Luna wants a divorce from Adam and an exit from his high-end lifestyle. To woo her into staying, Adam presents her with an eagle stolen from a wildlife center. Luna, appalled at the theft, vows to deliver the bird, named Mars, from Adam’s Florida estate across the international boundary line to an eagle sanctuary in Ontario. Ned, a 26-year-old wildlife center volunteer, abets Luna and Mars on their clandestine wild ride north. En route first in a classic Caddy and later in a red ’57 Chevy ragtop, they go “rehabber-hopping”—only staying at animal rehab centers that have a flight cage big enough for an eagle. Hot on their tail feathers are the police, a federal wildlife officer, and Adam and his bodyguard. Excitement, adventure, romance, and sex fill the book’s pages, as does a wacky cast of characters—perhaps too many—that includes gun-toting, panther owner Warren and tarantula-loving Harper. The story is laced with humor. For example, when Warren falls and lands on spilled wine, he explains he is fine on the floor, simply “marinating.” Gilbert gives just enough backstory to key characters to make them—even Adam—sympathetic without bogging down the narrative. A wildlife rehabilitator, the author knows of what she writes, and the novel has a built-in audience of nature lovers and animal enthusiasts.
This zany rescue tale starring an eagle offers readers a great escape.Pub Date: Feb. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-578-61200-3
Page Count: 326
Publisher: Perch Press
Review Posted Online: June 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Suzie Gilbert & illustrated by Laura Westlake
by Colleen Hoover ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 18, 2022
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
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New York Times Bestseller
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
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
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New York Times Bestseller
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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