WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 61Review_FICTION
has the chance
to turn his
genius to good,
gathering a
team of the
greatest scien-
tists in the
world to figure
out how to
shield Earth
and whether
humanity can
flee to Mars. Sawyer’s impressive use of
scientific and historical detail makes the
drastic solution they land on believable,
but threatening to derail their progress is
communist paranoia and Oppenheimer’s
loveless marriage. Though the subplots
about Oppenheimer’s romances are
poorly handled, Sawyer’s characteriza-
tion of the man himself are well done and
pull back the layers of Oppenheimer’s
morals, genius, and grief. Science fiction
fans will devour this smart speculative
tale. Agent: Chris Lotts, the Lotts Agency.
(June)
The Fallen Dagger
Jenna Lyn Wright. Jenna Lyn Wright, 99¢
e-book (162p) ASIN B0825GWWLW
Wright launches her Hellion Saga
series with this brisk, trope-filled urban
fantasy. Assassin Gray Carver was
recruited from a troubled childhood into
Ash City’s shadiest organization by the
dangerous, elusive Lilah. Now she wants
out. But on her first night after walking
away from her criminal life, Gray and
her pediatrician fiancé are murdered.
Lucifer offers her resurrection with a
catch: Gray must steal the Dagger of the
Fallen, the knife that mutilated Lucifer’s
wings, from Lilah before she uses it to
raise a demonic host. Invisible to mor-
tals and intent on revenge, Gray follows
the dagger’s trail through the supernat-
ural streets of Counterfeit City. Wright’s
clean prose and snappy pacing moves
this thriller along quickly, but the plot
that links the cursory fight scenes is
lifted from an array of genre staples
(including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star
Wars, and John Woo films) leaving little
room for surprise. This paint-by-num-
bers paranormal adventure is solid but
simple. (Self-published)
Romance/Erotica
The Summer Deal
Jill Shalvis. Morrow, $16.99 trade paper
(368p) ISBN 978-0-06-289791-6
A pair of guarded half-sisters learn to
open up in this sweet, summery romance
from Shalvis (Almost Just Friends). After
29-year-old Brynn Turner’s boyfriend
breaks her heart and robs her blind to
boot, she returns home to her loving but
smothering moms in Wildstone, Calif.,
to recover.
When a panic
attack sends
Brynn to the
ER, she runs
into Eli
Thomas, her
summer camp
crush and first
kiss, who’s
accompanying
his best friend
and housemate (and Brynn’s teenage
nemesis), Kinsey Davis, for a kidney
transplant that falls through. As it hap-
pens, Kinsey recently discovered she and
Brynn are half-sisters while searching for
possible kidney donors, but she refuses to
tell Brynn. Hoping to bring the sisters
together, Eli offers Brynn a room in their
beach house and soon falls for her. Mean-
while, single dad Deck Scott, Kinsey’s
dialysis nurse and casual hookup, works
to convince Kinsey that she’s more than
just “a walking expiration date.” Readers
will find it easy to root for Shalvis’s stub-
born, vulnerable heroines to recognize
both the decency and compassion of the
sexy men who love them and their own
worthiness to be loved. This heartfelt tale
is thoroughly satisfying. Agent: Robin Rue,
Writers House. (June)Summer on Honeysuckle Ridge
Debbie Mason. Forever, $6.99 mass market
(400p) ISBN 978-1-5387-1694-6
Despite a charmingly quirky heroine,
the love story of Mason’s first Highland
Falls romance (after the Harmony
Harbor series) is obscured by a rushed,
confusing tangle of competing subplots.
Los Angeles YouTube star Abby Everhart
is left penniless by a nasty divorce, so she’s
both surprised and grateful when sheinherits a farmhouse in Highland Falls,
N.C., from a great aunt she never met.
She and her Yorkshire terrier meet army
veteran Hunter Mackenzie upon arrival
and learn that he cared for Amy’s aunt in
her dying days and inherited half the farm.
Hunter agrees to help Abby fix up the
house to put it on the market if it means
the chatty, klutzy city girl will move out,
allowing him to return to his brooding,
solitary lifestyle. Over the course of a
summer, Abby befriends a vast cast of
townspeople, starts a tour company that
throws Outlander-inspired events, and
coaxes Hunter out of his shell and into her
arms. The large cast offers plenty of poten-
tial for future installments, but it becomes
difficult to track who’s who and distracts
from the mismatched central couple.
Readers will be disappointed. Agent:
Pamela Harty, the Knight Agency. (June)Magic Touch
Luna Joya. City Owl, 15.99 trade paper (365p)
ISBN 978-1-94909-087-1
A witch and an FBI agent find love
while solving a years-old murder in the
wickedly delightful second paranormal
romance in Joya’s Legacy series (after
Tides of Time). District Attorney Delia
Donovan is determined to keep her and
her sisters’ identities as witches secret.
But when Delia’s sister Mina partners
with an FBI task force of paranormal
misfits looking into a cold case, Delia
reluctantly agrees to join as well in order
to protect her sister. Agent Mark Cavan,
who is tasked with keeping Delia safe as
she uses her magical gifts to investigate,
is new to the paranormal world and ini-
tially clashes with Delia. Then a powerful
warlock gets wind of Delia’s abilities and
demands she join his coven or suffer
death, and Mark works to protect her.
Joya draws out the will-they-won’t-they
between her starkly different protagonists
as they go from enemies to reluctant
partners to lovers. The anticipation is
delicious and the eventual romance is well
worth the wait. This sexy love story will
entice longtime paranormal fans and draw
in new readers. (June)The New Normal
Tracy Brogan. Montlake Romance, $12.95
trade paper (308p) ISBN 978-1-5039-0523-8
Neighbors find love the second time