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Somewhere Along the Way by Jodi Thomas

Publishers Weekly –

Thomas's follow-up to Welcome to Harmony is an absorbing return to a colorful cast of characters in a small Texas town. Seventeen-year-old Reagan Truman's life consists of balancing shifts at the local diner with finishing high school and caring for her aging uncle. She forms an unlikely friendship with Gabe Leary, a reclusive war veteran and diner regular. When he saves Reagan's life one snowy night, he is unwittingly thrust into the local spotlight-and the role of Reagan's guardian angel. Gabe's burgeoning attraction to local attorney Liz Matheson is further forcing him to reevaluate his self-imposed exile. Meanwhile, Liz is dead set on proving to her family and friends that she can thrive on her own, yet she can't deny her feelings for Gabe. The residents of Harmony enjoy non-stop action, but Thomas never sacrifices character for plot. From Gabe's boisterous army buddy Denver Sims to Martha Q, the seven-times-married proprietress of the local B&B, the multitude of supporting characters who populate Thomas's tale are not just distinctive but memorable.

Left Neglected by Lisa Genova

Publishers Weekly –

In neuroscientist Genova's second novel (after Still Alice), a car crash gives a successful younger woman an obscure neurological syndrome called Left Neglect. Upwardly mobile Sarah and Bob Nickerson live in suburban Massachusetts with their three small children. Both work 60-hour weeks, though the economic downturn looms. When Sarah wakes up eight days after crashing her car on the way to work, the doctors inform her of her condition, which causes her brain to ignore the left side of everything, and she begins a long and uncertain recovery. Genova vividly describes Sarah's fear and frustration about a recovery that may never come, turning her struggle into a lesson in forgiveness, acceptance, and adaptability; insights reveal themselves with extreme clarity, and small moments between Bob and Sarah illustrate his stalwart love, though readers may want a more thorough investigation of his growing role as caretaker, and as a character. More accessible than her somber first book, which dealt with early-onset Alzheimer's, the central condition causes readers to wonder what brain disease she will think of next.

In Too Deep (Arcane Society Series #10) by Jayne Ann Krentz

Publishers Weekly –

The cops just can't handle psychically powerful criminals who deal in weapons-grade paranormal artifacts. Enter the Jones & Jones detective agency. Known for his solitary habits, investigator Fallon Jones has taken on an assistant, Isabella Valdez, who displays some unusual talents of her own as she helps him dig through an ever-expanding mess of paranormal criminal activity. Krentz's latest Arcane Society novel is loaded with sexual tension between the tough-but-lovable Isabella and the normally dour Fallon, and the story hilariously alternates between inventive, deadly action and the amusingly gossipy smalltown characters in Scargill Cove, Calif., a supernatural nexus. Krentz (aka Jayne Castle and Amanda Quick) never rests on her laurels, carefully crafting a story that works on every level: as a detective novel, a paranormal thriller, and a romance.

The Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards

Publishers Weekly –

Bestseller Edwards's much anticipated second novel may disappoint fans of her first, The Memory Keeper's Daughter. When Lucy Jarrett returns to her childhood home in Lake of Dreams, N.Y., she learns that her brother, Blake, who's gone into the family business, and his girlfriend hope to drain a controversial marsh to construct a high-end property. Meanwhile, Lucy, who remains haunted by her father's death in a fishing accident years earlier, reconnects with her first boyfriend, Keegan Fall, now a successful glass artist. But when she sees something familiar in the pattern of one of his pieces, and discovers a hidden note in her childhood home, Lucy finally digs into her family's mysterious past. Unfortunately, the lazy expository handling of information mutes the intrigue, and readers will see the reignited spark between Keegan and Lucy coming for miles. All loose ends eventually come together with formulaic ease to rock the family boat. Edwards is at her best when highlighting the strain between her characters.