Review by Booklist Review
Riverwild, a massive mansion on the Potomac River, has become home to newlywed Angel. She married her phenomenally wealthy husband Everett after a whirlwind romance in Martha's Vineyard. But the entire household seems obsessed with Chloe, her husband's first wife, who allegedly committed suicide. The home is controlled by Everett's sister, a menacing figure who bullies the staff and tries to intimidate Angel. Sound familiar? Briscoe has been writing African American historical fiction and romance for over thirty years. Here, she looks to Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca for inspiration. Although she does not quite deliver the complexity or suspense of the often reinterpreted and retold masterpiece, she succeeds in bringing it forward into the twenty-first century. Angel emerges with a more deeply defined past and considerable ambition, with resources not available to Rebecca. She even has a first name, unlike "the second Mrs. De Winter," and she is eventually able to resolve Chloe's death and engineer a substantially different conclusion to the narrative.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this entertaining riff on Rebecca from bestseller Briscoe (You Never Know), a young chef embarks on a whirlwind romance with a billionaire. Angel is taking a break from her restaurant job in Washington, D.C., to work as a private chef on Martha's Vineyard when she meets billionaire Everett Bruce. Enchanted by Everett's down-to-earth demeanor, Angel falls for him quickly. Just before her job ends and she returns to D.C., Everett proposes marriage, and Angel eagerly accepts. The two then embark on an emotionally chilly trip to Europe, but Angel hopes they'll spend more time together at Riverwild Estate, Everett's enormous home in Potomac, Md., which is run by his prickly sister, Ida. As the new Mrs. Bruce, Angel is forbidden from entering the Riverwild room once inhabited by Everett's first wife, Chloe, who died by suicide over a year ago. With Everett growing more distant, Angel searches for details about Chloe's death, fearing she won't like what she finds. Readers familiar with the Daphne du Maurier novel won't be particularly surprised by the twists and turns of the plot, and the ending arrives rather abruptly. Still, Briscoe folds some perceptive class critiques into her intoxicating blend of romance and suspense. This offers plenty of gothic pleasures. Agent: Victoria Sanders, Victoria Sanders & Assoc. (Mar.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
When a wealthy man with a shady past sweeps into Angel's life, she has to decide whether she loves him enough to vanquish his demons--most notably the memory of his dead wife. At 33, Angel has made her way to a high level of success through her own hard work and determination. She's a sous-chef at a popular Washington, D.C., restaurant but for several summers in a row, she's been hired as a private chef for the Harrisons in the Black enclave of Martha's Vineyard. Though they treat her like the help, she gets both experience and exposure--and the occasional day off to enjoy sketching on the beautiful beaches. This summer, Mrs. Harrison has her sights set on wealthy widower, Everett Bruce, as a possible husband for her uninterested daughter, so when Angel trips over him in a meet-cute, Mrs. Harrison is pissed. She wants Angel to understand that people like her are not in the realm of possible partners for handsome billionaires, especially ones who have recently lost their beautiful wives to tragic suicides. Of course, fate and Briscoe would like to offer a counterargument, and soon Angel is being swept off her feet by Everett, and when the summer comes to a close, he drops to one knee and proposes. Of course, not all is fairy tale ready: Everett turns out to be a workaholic, and all the money in the world can't staunch Angel's loneliness. Things get worse when they return home to Riverwild, the multimillion-dollar estate that's run with an iron hand by Everett's sister, Ida, and where his former wife's bedroom is preserved like a shrine.Rebecca is a floating palimpsest in the background, butChloe falls far short of the impact and dread of that classic. Ida comes onto the scene with a Mrs. Danvers--like disdain but doesn't prove a worthy opponent, and the "ghost" of Chloe is all too easily banished in a rather rushed denouement. Money trumps trauma here--and guarantees a happily ever after. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
