Kelly (Past Secrets
) brings a strong voice and deft hand with character to this engaging story about repairing three generations of broken hearts. Izzie Silver is a smalltown Irish girl turned successful booker at a top modeling firm in New York City, where she dreams of someday setting up her own agency for plus-sized models. She's fallen in love with Joe Hansen, a financier who is handsome, generous, charming—and married. Unfortunately, Izzie doesn't think she can go to her normal advice source on this one—her grandmother Lily just wouldn't understand. Meanwhile, Izzie's aunt, Anneliese, learns her husband of 37 years has been having an affair with her best friend. Things get worse for Izzie and Anneliese when Lily suffers a stroke, but through Lily's old journals dating back to WWII, the women discover Lily had some romantic secrets and massive heartbreak of her own. Kelly cleverly subverts women's fiction clichés and delivers some excellent and unconventional plot twists. The conclusion won't leave a dry eye in the house. (Feb.)
