Dreams of Rescue : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Magical mysterious & intimate
Review: I liked this for the secrets of the marriage, not quite solved...How well do we know anyone? The heroine imagines herself "saved" by her husband, but maybe he is dangerous -- Or is she imagining too much, after playing frightened women in the movies? the answers kept me on my toes...Loved the snowy atmosphere, the themes of predators and prey, stalking...well written

Rating:
Summary: Whiteout with wonder, skewers media and Adirondack resort
Review: I lost count of the white images in this unique and clever novel. White for snow, white for brides, white for roses.
This was not what I expected but I liked it a great deal more than if it had been standard kind of scared woman alone at a frozen lake. It is actually a smart take onthe movie business of 'scared women alone' at lakes & an elegant portrait of summer town in its off season.
Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Don't miss this one!
Review: I was lucky enough to get my hands on an advance copy of this book, and disappeared into it like someone in a trance. Julianna Durrell is an actress best known for her victim roles in the TV subgenre known as FemJep (insider slang for "female in jeopardy.") As the book opens, Julianna is spending the winter in her summer home, with her marriage literally on ice after a violent encounter with her husband. With an order of protection that barely protects, she is thrust into the unfamiliar world of a gritty off-season resort whose small-town courtrooms barely resemble the TV version she knows so well. This is a smart literary thriller that both satisfies and reimagines the conventions of its genre. Cunningham writes like an angel -- her frozen landscapes are unforgettable.

Rating:
Summary: Passionate about this Page Turner
Review: I was reading this on a flight and did not want to leave my seat when I landed. I identified completely with the wounded heroine who loves but is terrified of her childhood sweetheart/husband. Mesmerizing descriptions of her Victorian snowy hideaway and the Adirondack despair made this deeper than I expected. Winner.

Rating:
Summary: Laura is the face in a misty night
Review: I'm a big Laura fan --Laura the original movie and this Laura, the author of so many divergent works. Here, my favorite author displays her haunting side, with the same intensity & dazzling prose that marks her other "greatest hits." Don't miss this saga of the troubled actress and her mysterious marriage. Kept me up two nights in a row!

Rating:
Summary: Incandescent, unusual pleasures
Review: If you relish truth about marriage, marital court situations, run and get this unusual and skillful book, that sends up fictional versions of actresses in distress, while exposing a pure core of truth. What really happens when a film actress is terrified of her loving, unstable husband? Court scenes striking, fantastic atmosphere, and heartstopping descriptions of nature and failing marriage. A gem.

Rating:
Summary: Blizzard of imagery, spectacular insights
Review: In a word, I was dedazzled by the snowblinding beauty of this book, the heartache of the heroine, the literary panache...I loved Beautiful Bodies, but this gets under the skin of a scared wife, a threatened actress and explores her psyche with a great deal of insight. Any woman who has been frightened by a man will surely identify...works on two levels, suspenseful and smart.

Rating:
Summary: A heroine like heroin, addictive, ecstatic
Review: In this beautifully composed sonata on pain and fear, an actress, Juliana, attempts to differentiate between terror and rescue in her past films, and the startling realities of trying to persevere in a violent divorce...Fiercely intelligent and brilliantly described,this novel displays the author's gifts as she spins a gossamer crystalline web of connection between what women long for, and what they often receive. With one stunning, cinematic sequence after another, Juliana moves toward genuine and earned salvation.

Rating:
Summary: Pleasure of the 5 Star Sort
Review: In this diamond bright novel, that inverts film into real life, a wife/actress is losing her husband or her mind. A contemporary Gaslight, this dreamy read is elegant and polished, and filled with deep characterisations-- Those haunting Frozen Girls! An ode to Victorian thrillers, this is contemporary down to the last bleep of the cellphone...A harrowing and inspiring tale of a woman's redemption from a nightmare marriage. Brava!

Rating:
Summary: Thrilling "Gaslight" story of actress's mysterious marriage
Review: Kept me on my toes as the heroine goes from playing an endangered heroine to being one in "real life." Differences between "reel" and "real" make this an in depth character study. the heartache at the core is every disillusioned bride's story -- how love is lost, but the suspense is hair tingly and the depiction of small town life right up there with the author's "A Place in the Country." It did remind me of Hitchock movies; really a thrilling, serious read.