On her wedding night, Annalise is nearly murdered and then thrown from the couple’s honeymoon barge into the river; rescued by a war-wounded earl who nurses her back to health, she vows to never be vulnerable again.
Annalise should have known better than to believe the Duke of Bloodsworth could love her, despite his pretty promises and charming manner. After years on her own as a penniless orphan, her long-lost father may have found her, dressed her in pretty clothes and set to finding her a blue-blood husband, but she was still crippled, plain and of dubious origin. She should have known the duke couldn’t really want her. But still, to try to murder her, then throw her into the river like garbage is even more inconceivable. When she comes to after days of fever and touch-and-go health, she learns that she’s been rescued by an enigmatic man of few words, Owen, who found her on the riverbank and brought her to a gypsy healer then helped the gypsy nurse her back to health. Mortified by her husband’s absolute rejection and premeditated plans to murder her, she feigns amnesia, which Owen never completely believes. When she has healed enough to leave the gypsy camp, Owen takes her to his London townhouse, where she discovers he’s an earl. She’s attracted to his gruff kindness and his ability to make her feel safe, even though he makes it clear he doesn’t want her around and that bringing her to his home was a mistake. As events unfold, Owen and Annalise will have to be honest with themselves and each other in order to find a healing, sustaining love that can save them from internal and external hazards. Well-written and engaging, despite a few too many “come-hither-no-stop-right-there” situations and some repetitive internal character dithering that becomes more irritating as the story moves forward.
Pub Date: July 30, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-203301-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013
Categories: ROMANCE | HISTORICAL ROMANCE
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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. 23, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
Categories: GENERAL ROMANCE | ROMANCE | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP | CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
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An unlucky woman finally gets lucky in love on an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii.
From getting her hand stuck in a claw machine at age 6 to losing her job, Olive Torres has never felt that luck was on her side. But her fortune changes when she scores a free vacation after her identical twin sister and new brother-in-law get food poisoning at their wedding buffet and are too sick to go on their honeymoon. The only catch is that she’ll have to share the honeymoon suite with her least favorite person—Ethan Thomas, the brother of the groom. To make matters worse, Olive’s new boss and Ethan’s ex-girlfriend show up in Hawaii, forcing them both to pretend to be newlyweds so they don’t blow their cover, as their all-inclusive vacation package is nontransferable and in her sister’s name. Plus, Ethan really wants to save face in front of his ex. The story is told almost exclusively from Olive’s point of view, filtering all communication through her cynical lens until Ethan can win her over (and finally have his say in the epilogue). To get to the happily-ever-after, Ethan doesn’t have to prove to Olive that he can be a better man, only that he was never the jerk she thought he was—for instance, when she thought he was judging her for eating cheese curds, maybe he was actually thinking of asking her out. Blending witty banter with healthy adult communication, the fake newlyweds have real chemistry as they talk it out over snorkeling trips, couples massages, and a few too many tropical drinks to get to the truth—that they’re crazy about each other.
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable as well as free.Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2803-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
Categories: GENERAL ROMANCE | ROMANCE
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