A Sweet Lowcountry Proposal

Williams’s tepid follow-up to A Lowcountry Bride reunites a wedding planner with her former fiancé two years after tragedy disrupted their nuptials. Jaslene Simmons was about to walk down the aisle with Marcus Clarke when she got the devastating news that her sister, Hope, had died. Why she then walked away from the man of her dreams for good instead of postponing the wedding and allowing him to support her through her grief is never satisfactorily explained. Jaslene has since devoted her life to raising her niece, Imani, a violin prodigy, while continuing the wedding planning business she and Hope cofounded. Marcus, meanwhile, wrestles with guilt, illogically blaming himself for Hope’s death, his younger brother’s drowning as a child, and the recent wedge in his relationship with his grandfather. He takes refuge in his work at the Lowcountry African American Heritage Museum—which happens to be the venue for a last-minute wedding Jaslene rushes to plan. The pair’s reunion is quickly overshadowed by convoluted family drama as Jaslene struggles with the thought of Imani leaving home for a music conservatory and Marcus uncovers family secrets. The declarations of love, when they inevitably come, feel entirely unearned. This is one to skip. Agent: Jill Marsal, Marsal Lyon Literary. (Nov.)