Review by Booklist Review
Dr. Miranda Jones, an art authenticator specializing in bronzes, is summoned by her mother to Italy to verify a bronze called The Dark Lady after a courtesan of the de Medici court. A leak to the Italian press is immediately blamed on Miranda, and under threat of dismissal from the family's entire operation, she returns home to Maine seething at the injustice. The international media call her findings fraudulent, and so does Ryan Boldari, a handsome art thief who stole a bronze from Miranda's museum only to discover that it was a fake. His confrontation with Miranda sets them on the trail of a shadowy figure determined to hide The Dark Lady and destroy Miranda's reputation at all costs. Sparks fly personally and professionally between Ryan and Miranda as they close in on the killer stalking her--a killer who is either a close friend, coworker, or member of her family. Homeport provides a satisfying read with strong characters and a cohesive plot that should please Roberts' fans, yet it lacks the suspense and sense of hidden evil found in previous best-sellers Montana Sky (1996) and Sanctuary (1997). Roberts has also just finished a trilogy, The Stars of Mithra, for Silhouette and is starting a new trilogy in paperback with Sea Swept. Recommended for all collections. --Melanie Duncan
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Roberts will certainly continue her prolific track record of best sellers with this newest work. Employing just the right combination of romance, humor, and suspense, her heroine, Miranda, finally finds love and, perhaps more important, success and validation in her career. Miranda's Institute houses some of the most valuable and renowned art pieces in the world. Ryan, who is a thief, albeit a totally charming and captivating one, plans to steal a particularly special item with which Miranda is having her own problems. How these two characters meet, reveal the truth to each other, and then conspire to outwit the true bad guy (or should we say gal) is an irresistible page turner. Add an alcoholic younger brother, an amazingly varied cast of family characters, and a cliff hanger (literally) of an ending and you're on the way to the best sellers lists. Sure to please Roberts's legions of fans, this is essential for all public libraries.Margaret Ann Hanes, Sterling Heights P.L., Mich. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
To her usual mix of love, mystery, and passion, Roberts (Sanctuary, 1997, etc.)--author of 115 romancers in some 17 years--adds Renaissance art and a decidedly Medici-like family: the Joneses of Maine. Dr. Miranda Jones, nearly six feet with flaming red hair and a glacial reserve, is an archeometrist who specializes in the analyzing and dating of Renaissance bronze sculpture. Miranda hopes to secure a world-class reputation for herself by authenticating a 15th-century statue of the ""Dark Lady,"" one of the mistresses of Lorenzo the Magnificent, as the undiscovered work of a young Michelangelo. Miranda's mother, Dr. Elizabeth Standford-Jones, the emotionally remote director of the Standjo art lab in Florence, has summoned her daughter from the family's Victorian cliffside home in Jones Point, Maine, to test the statue. Meanwhile, Miranda's father, equally remote, is an archaeologist who spends more time at his digs than at home. In fact, no one in the Jones family has made a ""successful run at marriage,"" a failure that Miranda and her alcoholic brother Andrew call the ""Jones curse."" As for the statue, when it's discovered to be a fake, Miranda sets out to prove that someone stole the original. In this she's helped by gorgeous art thief Ryan Boldari (half-Italian, half-Irish), who's come to Jones Point to steal yet another bronze, which also turns out to be a forgery. Ryan's plan had been to use Miranda as a pawn, but now, naturally, he finds himself falling hard for her. While the two search for bronzes, a standard-issue romance-novel psychotic is stalking them. Most readers will twig to the killer's identity: Here, as always, Roberts's sexual tension is more compelling than her suspense. Perhaps it's time to take a sabbatical from the pink sweatshop and turn her considerable wit and narrative skills to a more original piece of work. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
