The Secret of Snow

Shipman (Clover Girls) delivers a beautifully written story about second chances. After 50-year-old meteorologist Sonny Dunes is fired from her Palm Springs, Calif., TV station and replaced by an artificial intelligence system, she gets drunk with a former colleague, then heads back to the station to voice her opinions, live and uncensored. In the aftermath, she agrees to return to her northern Michigan hometown and serve as chief meteorologist for the local station. In addition to working for a college acquaintance, Sonny is immediately targeted by local mean girl Polly Sue Van Kampen, who makes it clear that she blames Sonny for taking the job she expected to get and does everything she can to sabotage her. Sonny also finds love with a local man, Mason Carrier, and when an unprecedented career opportunity arises, Sonny is confronted with the choice of whether to stay with Mason or take the job. The author adds emotional gravitas with a subplot about Sonny’s deceased younger sister, and perfectly sketches Sonny’s mother, while also sensitively handling the topic of mental health, with one character having obsessive-compulsive disorder and another having lost a loved one to suicide. Fans of women’s fiction won’t be able to put this down. Agent: Wendy Sherman, Wendy Sherman Assoc. (Oct.)