Serenity Harbor

Thayne’s sixth Haven Point contemporary (after Snowfall on Haven Point) is built on the flawed premise of disabled children teaching awkward adults about unconditional love. Elementary school teacher Katrina Bailey is teaching English in Colombia when she meets Gabriella, an orphaned girl with Down syndrome. She begins adoption proceedings, selfishly hoping that parenthood will help her convince herself and everyone else that she is a responsible adult. When Katrina reluctantly returns home for a family wedding, she sees autistic six-year-old Milo having a meltdown in a grocery store and spontaneously offers to become his caregiver. She figures that the job will help her raise money for the adoption and get experience caring for someone disabled. After Milo’s mother died, his older brother, tech entrepreneur Bowie Callahan—who had been abandoned by his mother at a young age and didn’t even know Milo existed—became responsible for the boy’s care. Bowie vows to make sure Milo will never suffer the way he suffered, but he has no idea how to raise an autistic kid, and he’s glad to accept Katrina’s offer. Bowie’s decision to demonstrate his devotion by hiring a complete stranger as a caregiver is questionable, and he seems more interested in his job than his brother. Readers will still enjoy watching Bowie and Katrina fall in love as they learn to believe in themselves, but the use of disabled children as plot tokens is grating. Agent: Karen Solem, Spencerhill Associates. (July)