Memorable characters and a well-researched history make for a charming and enjoyable love story.
A young man must overcome insecurity to seize his chance at true love in Matthews’ latest romance novel.
The fourth installment of the Parish Orphans of Devon series finds former orphans and longtime friends Alex, Tom, Justin, and Neville reuniting to celebrate the holidays at Greyfriar’s Abbey, Justin’s Gothic home perched on the cliffs of Devon. Neville, who lives a quiet life at the abbey with Justin and his wife, is happy to have his friends and their families in attendance. But he’s also overwhelmed. Neville suffers from a brain injury caused by a childhood accident, and though he is physically and intellectually unimpaired, he struggles to turn his thoughts into words. His friends have all found love and moved on. But Neville is stuck in a prison of his own making, preferring the company of animals to people. Things change for Neville when he meets Clara Hartwright, a lady’s companion who arrives at the abbey in the company of the elderly aunt of Tom’s wife. Clara begins to help Neville take care of the horses, and a tentative friendship forms as they each share their budding hopes and dreams. However, their nascent romance is jeopardized by difficulty in Clara’s personal life. A scandal from her past and troublesome family problems resurface, demanding her presence and attention. Neville must choose between the safety of his familiar surroundings and an unknown future with a chance at love. Matthews, the author of A Convenient Fiction (2019), once again delivers in her latest Victorian novel. Her love story is sweet and chaste, the characters well developed, and their relationship beautifully rendered. Matthews also addresses the lack of educational opportunities for women of the time, supplementing her romance with a meatier storyline. Her treatment of Neville’s brain injury is sensitively handled, and it’s a welcome change to encounter a knight in shining armor who isn’t defined by perfection. In fact, the lovers stand on an even playing field, as their strengths and weaknesses balance each other. As Clara realizes, Neville “needed her, just as she’d needed him.”
Memorable characters and a well-researched history make for a charming and enjoyable love story.Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73305-695-3
Page Count: 316
Publisher: Perfectly Proper Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 10, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Roberts does it again with this fast-paced romantic mystery that's both steamy and thrilling, despite its somewhat obvious...
Beautiful Italian babe with a passion for fire and doomed hunks joins the arson squad and discovers that someone has held a torch for her since she was a child.
When Reena Hale is 11 years old, she watches her family's Baltimore pizzeria go up in flames. Thanks to a local arson detective, John Minger, and the girl's keen memory, police determine that a neighborhood crook whose young son had recently attacked Reena was out for revenge, and soon cops publicly haul the dirt bag off to jail. The large and loving Hale family bands together and rebuilds; Reena grows up curious about the origins of fire. She attends college and, after her boyfriend dies in an accident, joins the police force and learns the inner workings of the fire department. Eventually, she teams with Minger to solve the city's suspicious fires. Meanwhile, over the years, a shady character has been hiding in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to violently sabotage Reena's relationships (usually with the help of explosives). Somehow Reena doesn't put together that all of her boyfriends have been in the path of catastrophic (occasionally deadly) events, so her stalker hits the phone lines to clue her in with dirty messages that become more and more intimate. When Reena launches a torrid love affair with her new neighbor, whose truck soon explodes, she begins to get it. Fearing for her family's safety, Reena reopens past cases and learns that her troubles started when she was a child. The tale builds to a breathless climax as she (literally) races to beat out the flames of one fire before determining where the next one will be set.
Roberts does it again with this fast-paced romantic mystery that's both steamy and thrilling, despite its somewhat obvious nature.Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2005
ISBN: 0-399-15306-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2005
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