Kissing Comfort

July 25, 2011
In 1870 San Francisco, foundling Comfort Elizabeth Kennedy is mortified when her childhood friend, shipping magnate Bram DeLong, announces that they are engaged, but she plays along when he promises they can break it off soon. The sham engagement sets off a cascade of events ensnaring Comfort's affable banker uncles, Bram's imperious mother, and his older brother, Bode, whose decades-old passion for Comfort ignites as blackmailers, kidnappers, and a menacing figure from Comfort's shadowy past close in. While bestseller Goodman (Never Love a Lawman) struggles to free her narrative from a weighty beginning and a several overly convoluted plot threads, and cameos by a freed slave and a Chinese maid are unfortunately caricatured, the cast of likeable, articulate charactersâincluding the complicated, independent, and altogether impressive heroineâmakes this an entertaining and sizzling offering for lovers of Gilded Age pageantry.

Starred review from August 1, 2011

Caught off guard when her best friend, Bram DeLong, unexpectedly announces their engagement, Comfort Kennedy is too stunned to object. But Bram's brother, Bode, knows something is wrong, and as he has loved Comfort for years, he's not about to let go of his suspicions. Danger, passion, and an ill-advised kidnapping are all part of this lively adventure that is a perfect read for fans of the West Coast Old West. VERDICT Deadly secrets that threaten the status quo, an enigma that is not easily resolved, and a well-matched pair of totally likable protagonists make this a romance to savor. Nicely done! Goodman (Marry Me) lives in West Virginia. [Previewed in "Booked Solid," LJ 7/11, p. 30.]

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 15, 2011
Goodman is at her premier-storyteller best in this historical western-romance about two San Francisco families. When prospectors Newton Prescott and Tucker Jones find an abandoned girl at the site of a wagon-train massacre, they name her Comfort after the tin of Dr. Eli Kennedy's Comfort Lozenges she clutches in her hand. Years later, after Newt and Tucker, now successful bankers, have raised the girl, they are angered when Comfort is tricked by the son of a shipping magnate into becoming engaged. Although Comfort wants to help her friend Bram out of whatever fix prompted his announcement, she doesn't want to be a party to deception. After Bram is injured, Comfort becomes better acquainted with his older brother, Bode. When she begins to have nightmares about seeing someone with a box of Dr. Eli's lozenges, Bode, who has loved Comfort for years, becomes her protector and wonders what horror is resurfacing from her past. Goodman's multilayered novel beautifully paints the rollicking gold rush and two unforgettable lovers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)