A New Hope

Carr continues her romance series set on the Oregon coast with a smoothly written story of two people who find healing and love after bad marriages. Ginger Dysart, still recovering from her baby’s SIDS death, punches farmer and professor Matt Lacoumette after he drunkenly gropes her breast during his sister’s wedding reception. After he apologizes, the two begin a friendship that realistically turns romantic. Their major stumbling block is anger; she’s gotten past hers, and he needs to give his up. Occasionally meddling large families broaden the scope, and a secondary story line involving ALS patient Winnie Dillon (mother of the heroine in One Wish) and her entourage—her nurse, the nurse’s teenage son, and a skating coach—adds depth and surprising humor. Carr falters only when using large moralizing brush strokes to paint the breakup of Matt’s marriage. (July)