Wreck the Halls

Bestseller Bailey (Unfortunately Yours) pairs the children of celebrities to winning effect in this hot and heartwarming contemporary. Beat Dawkins and Melody Gallard are the respective children of Octavia Dawkins and Trina Gallard, who together made up the rock duo Steel Birds before the band imploded for publicly unknown reasons while the women were pregnant. Thirty years have passed, and Octavia is now the darling of the charity ball set, while Trina’s living a freewheeling lifestyle on a commune. Their children have understandably complicated relationships with fame: Beat’s determined to stay out of the spotlight as much as possible, while Melody has been treated abominably by the tabloids. Then a TV producer ropes them into a reality show about convincing their mothers to reunite Steel Birds for a Christmas concert, catapulting Beat and Melody to new levels of fame. Viewers are quickly charmed by Melody’s self-effacing humor and the intense chemistry between her and Beat—and readers will be too. There’s plenty of steam as the couple get together, and the mystery of what split up Steel Birds and whether they’ll reunite in time for the concert keeps the pages turning. It’s a rollicking good time. Agent: Laura Bradford, Bradford Literary. (Oct.)