Agents of Romance
  • Agent Central
  • Events | Reviews | Giveaways
  • Contact The Agents
  • Agent Central
  • Events | Reviews | Giveaways
  • Contact The Agents

{Review} Two Across by Jeff Bartsch (@JeffBartsch @GrandCentralPub)

9/22/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Highly awkward teenager Stanley Owens meets his match in beautiful, brainy Vera Baxter when they tie for first place in the annual National Spelling Bee-and the two form a bond that will change both of their lives.

Though their mothers have big plans for them-Stanley will become a senator, Vera a mathematics professor-neither wants to follow these pre-determined paths. So Stanley hatches a scheme to marry Vera in a sham wedding for the cash gifts, hoping they will enable him to pursue his one true love: crossword puzzle construction. In enlisting Vera to marry him, though, he neglects one variable: she's secretly in love with him, which makes their counterfeit ceremony an exercise in misery for her.

Realizing the truth only after she's moved away and cut him out of her life, Stanley tries to atone for his mistakes and win her back. But he's unable to find her, until one day he comes across a puzzle whose clues make him think it could only have been created by Vera. Intrigued, he plays along, communicating back to her via his own gridded clues. But will they connect again before it's all too late?
Picture
Picture
​The year was 1960 and a fifteen-year-old Vera Baxter was driven to succeed. It didn’t matter if it was mastering mathematics or science, she could do it all. 
 
As the child of an equally ambitious mother, they travelled from one spelling bee to another while Vera plans out her bright future.  First, she will attend a prestigious ivy league university and then she will go on to change the world.
 
And then she met Stanley.
One thing was for sure: She was alive. She was no longer her mother’s captive, pacing the floor with a math journal in one hand and hypothesizing to herself that this was as exciting as life would ever get for her. She had a real, honest-to-God situation on her hands, involving an interesting boy, a boy who most certainly knew the square root of four. And he was offering her a genuine, here-and-now opportunity to do something adventurous and a little bad, which she often dreamed of in the warm, sleepy afternoons when her books were overheated by use and in her exhaustion she lay her head on her arms and set loose her fantasies. Also, paradoxically, getting married - “Okay, fine, pretend married,” she said to herself - would offer her a way of finally feeling like she fit in.
​Stanley Owens struggled under the weight of his mother’s love. He grew up living in a suite at the Hawthorne Hotel where until his death, his father served as the hotel’s concierge. 
 
His dreams are filled with adventure and crossword puzzles – not attending Harvard as his mother demands.  So when he encounters Vera, he recognizes the same wanderlust inside of her and devises a plan that might be the ultimate answer for both of them.  All they have to do is get married when they turn eighteen.
 
After that, it seemed that every single one of Stanley’s grand designs only worked to separate him from Vera.  By the time that he realizes what he actually has – it’s too late – she’s gone.  He searches for her in the only way that he knows how – with clues in a crossword puzzle. 
 
How long is too long to look for the other half of your soul?
Fate will never intervene on your behalf. The universe will not come to your rescue. You are yours and yours alone to save. The work is yours to do.
​Two Across is a one of a kind intellectual love affair. There’s something about the way that the words express so much more than their literal meaning that somehow makes it both daring and poignant all at the same time.
 
You’ll laugh at the absurdity and cry at the feeling of loneliness – and your heart will be unforgettably full in the end…
Picture

Grab The Book!

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    3 Smoking Guns
    4 Smoking Guns
    5 Smoking Guns
    Agent Exclusives
    Agent News
    Blog Tours
    Coming Soon
    Cover Reveals
    Current Giveaways
    Guest Posts
    Interviews
    Promotional Events
    Release Events
    Reviews

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014

Logo Designs by Hang Le​
Adult Content - 18 + please