A Place of Hope

April 8, 2013
Jacobs’s vapid novel follows elderly but spry Emily Mattison through a series of improbable events that lead up to an equally bland confrontation. Emily tumbles down some stairs and knocks herself addled. Her dastardly nephew, having learned that Emily has just inherited a distant cousin’s wealthy estate, employs a few lies and bribes to get her committed to a geriatric ward for patients with dementia. She falls improbably in love at first sight with her fellow patient Chad, also locked in the ward against his will and apparently without cause. Their completely uneventful escape precedes a handful of nonchallenges that the heroes fret over before effortlessly overcoming. Though the tale is billed as a “mature romance,” there is very little actual romancing, and both the plot and the writing strike a paradoxically juvenile tone.

February 15, 2012
Jacobs, the author of more than 40 novels, including License to Dream (2011), presents a collection of short stories written over the course of her career. Each story is prefaced with a note from the author about her inspiration for the piece and, in some cases, how characters were later used in her novels. Aspiring writers will appreciate this background information as well as reading a seasoned writer's less polished, early attempts. Like her contemporary romance novels, most of these stories feature amiable characters, small-town Australia settings, and romances developed through old-fashioned courtship. One character, Emily, is featured in two storiesfirst as a young woman meeting her husband, and then as a widow finding new loveshowing the author's adeptness at capturing women at different stages of life. This collection is a good bet for fans of Jacobs' novels and for those looking for an introduction to her genteel romance writing.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)