Sea Glass Summer

December 10, 2012
Cannell takes a break from her Ellie Haskell cozy mystery series (She Shoots to Conquer, etc.) with this sweet contemporary romance featuring 34-year-old Sarah Draycott, a successful designer of patterns for knitting magazines. After her husband leaves her for another woman, Sarah moves from the Midwest to Sea Glass, Maine, to make a new start. In Sea Glass, Sarah encounters nosy neighbors and, eventually, an unexpected love interest. While descriptions of the beauties of nature enchant (“It was a perfect morning in early July, with just enough breeze to edge the deep blue silk of the bay with ripples of lacey foam”), readers should be prepared for some sentimental exchanges between new lovers (“I fell in love with you when we met. And if that’s equally like a romance novel, it’s because most clichés are around because they are truths that have been sanded and buffed over time”). Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency.

August 19, 2013
When Sarah Draycott moves to a small town on the coast of Maine following her divorce, she is drawn into the lives, joys, and heartaches of her neighbors. She helps a widow deal with her child's illness. And she helps nine-year-old Oliverâwho is taken into custody by an uncle he's never metâdiscover the truth about the deteriorating mansion where he now lives. Kirsten Potter's slow, smooth narration fits Cannell's novel. And while the book contains emotional scenes, mystery, and suspense, it's written in a low-key toneâand Potter matches it perfectly, while also giving the characters (both young and old) recognizable and appropriate voices. A Severn House paperback.