Rainy Day Friends

Shalvis entices with sensuous romance and a touch of humor as one woman’s journey of healing takes her to a California winery. Lanie Jacobs is devastated first by the death of her husband, Kyle, and then by the discovery that he was married to other women while married to her. Looking for a change, she takes a job as a graphic artist at the Capriotti Winery. Lanie is surprised and reluctantly charmed by the boisterous and welcoming Capriotti family members, who are led by matriarch Cora. Though Lanie is wary of men, she cannot help her attraction to Cora’s son, Mark, a single deputy sheriff with two adorable twin daughters. As Lanie and Mark are irresistibly drawn to each other, their romantic interludes sizzle with passion, though the wounds from their pasts leave them reluctant to seek a lasting relationship. Lanie adjusts to life with the members of the Capriotti family as she befriends new employee River Green, a pregnant young woman with secrets of her own. Lanie struggles to decide whether she can remove the barriers around her heart for a chance at true happiness. With a fast pace and a lovely mix of romance and self-discovery, Shalvis’s novel is chock-full of magnetic characters and seamless storytelling, rich with emotions, and impossible to put down. Agent: Robin Rue, Writers’ House. (June)