That Thing Called Love

This warm summer contemporary melts hearts with the simultaneous blossoming of familial and romantic love. Selfish young Jake Bradshaw left his newborn son, Austin, in the care of his dead wife’s parents, Kathy and Emmett Pierce, and escaped the small resort town of Razor Bay, Wash., to become a world-traveling photographer. Thirteen years later, the Pierces die and newly mature Jake decides to step up as a dad and take Austin across the country to big city life in Manhattan. But teen Austin and his temporary guardian, petite Jenny Salazar, an orphan raised by the Pierces as Austin’s big sister, are hard to convince. Sexual tension builds as Jenny succumbs to intense attraction to Jake and the lack of other prospects in Razor Bay, and Jake tries to prove he’s grown up and learned how to be a dad. Though the plot is unsurprising and the characterization is a bit stereotyped, Andersen’s mastery of the heartstring tug makes this light story emotionally satisfying. Agent: Meg Ruley, the Jane Rotrosen Agency. (Aug.)