September 15, 2018
The author of acclaimed children's and YA series, Santopolo became an adult author with the New York Times best-selling The Light We Lost. (Plus, there's a movie coming.) Here, Nina, whose father owns New York's high-end Gregory Hotels, has been raised to care deeply about her family's reputation. But a secret she learns when her father dies has her questioning not just him but all the men in her life.
Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
November 15, 2018
An heiress grieves her seemingly perfect and successful father until she learns he was hiding some devastating secrets.Nina Gregory grew up idolizing her father. After her mother died in a car accident when Nina was young, her father raised her by himself while running a ritzy hotel business in New York City. His standards were exacting, and he taught her that the Gregory name was the most important thing she owned. Nina loves her job as a speechwriter for mayoral candidate Rafael O'Connor-Ruiz, but she knows that eventually she'll take over her father's company. Her life seems mapped out in front of her--her boyfriend, Tim, is the son of her father's best friend and business partner, and she knows that one day they'll get married and have children. But she can't ignore the passion she feels for her job in politics--or the passion she feels for Rafael. When her father dies, Nina realizes she'll have to take over the company long before she's ready. She gives up her speechwriting gig and devotes herself to understanding the Gregory Corporation. In the course of her research, she discovers that her father wasn't the perfect, upstanding man she always assumed he was, and his relationship with her mother wasn't the dream it looked like from the outside. Shattered by the realization that her father was flawed, Nina starts to wonder if she should really follow in his footsteps. Does the path he set for her still make sense, or should she follow her passions even if that means risking everything? An heiress with multiple homes and romantic prospects may not seem like an inherently sympathetic figure, but Santopolo (The Light We Lost, 2017) manages to turns Nina into a well-rounded character. Despite a life of privilege that sometimes blinds her to the ways others, like Rafael, have struggled, she wants to use her power and money to do good things. Nina's struggle to decide between two men, one of whom represents her old life and the other who represents what she could be if she took a chance, is propulsive and compelling. The depiction of Nina's grief for her father is vividly raw, made more real by her eventual understanding that he was an imperfect human being.Full of drama, scandal, and romance, this is sure to delight fans of Santopolo's The Light We Lost
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February 1, 2019
Nina Gregory has always lived her life within the lines, afraid to sully the name brought to prominence by her hotelier grandfather and father. Generally content to follow the path laid out for her by the father she adores, her role as a speechwriter for an unconventional New York City mayoral candidate is the one anomaly of her well-manicured life. Nina knows she is expected to take over her father's hotel business, so he humors her foray into politics. But then her father passes away from cancer, devastating her more than words can say. While grappling with grief, Nina uncovers the secrets her father left behind, devastating her even more. She wonders if she ever even really knew her father. And if she is her father's daughter, does she then even really know herself? ?The latest from best-selling author Santopolo (The Light We Lost, 2017) is a bittersweet and reflective novel of grief, loss, and coming into one's own. Fans of leisurely paced and character-driven novels will appreciate the time she spends developing Nina's voice and ensuring that it's heard.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)
Starred review from January 1, 2019
Nina Gregory loves her work as a speech writer on the charismatic Rafael's political campaign. She looks up to him almost as much as she does her father, owner of the fashionable and luxurious Gregory Hotels. Nina's family name and legacy mean everything to her, and she's always tried to live up to his expectations for her life, even when they don't jell with her own beliefs. When her father dies, family secrets change the way Nina feels about everyone important to her, including her father, her fianc� Tim, and even the handsome Rafael. Nina must decide what really matters: going her own way or letting her family choose her future. Children's and YA author Santopolo's second novel for adults (after The Light We Lost) takes a fascinating look into the lives of New York City's superwealthy and political elite. Nina is a thoughtful and likable character who's forced to make life-defining choices that will keep readers enthralled. VERDICT This breezy read is full of drama and romance, but at its core is a story of family and self-identity that will please women's fiction fans. [See Prepub Alert, 8/27/18.]--Kristen Calvert, Dallas P.L., TX
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