Just the Way You Are

Alli MacGuire, always the tagalong sister, seduced Sam Tucker, the boyfriend of her older and more beautiful sister Tessa, and became pregnant. After watching her husband pine for years for Tessa, the strong-willed and perpetually jealous Alli makes the painful decision to divorce Sam, determined that she and her daughter will have it allDor nothing. When Alli's beloved grandmother, Phoebe, suffers a stroke, Tessa, now a famous supermodel, returns to Tucker's Landing for the first time in 10 years, resurrecting old loves and forcing reexaminations of new relationships. A pearl necklace Phoebe and her long deceased husband started many years ago that has always represented their love for each other becomes the catalyst for repairing the damaged relationship between Tessa and Alli. Even if she must force them, Phoebe wants her granddaughtersDtogetherDto find the last pearl that will complete the necklace and bring closure, finally, to the hurt of the past. Admittedly Alli's not entirely likable, but even Tessa comes to recognize her sister's good qualities, and the reader winds up rooting for Alli, Sam and their marriage. Fans will be eager to dive into this moving tale of two sisters from the RITA Award-winning Freethy (Almost Home). (Nov.)