Fool for Love

Setting up her Cupcake Lovers romance series, Ciotta (Charmed) draws an array of distinctive well-developed characters. Chloe Madison, newly graduated from Manhattan’s Culinary Arts Institute, is dumped by her boyfriend, Ryan. She leaves the city for Sugar Creek, Vt., where her best friend lives. Chloe was once a spontaneous live-in-the-moment person, but Ryan molded her into a sedate woman. Now she needs to reclaim her identity. Her job as companion to Daisy Monroe, a feisty 75-year-old, seems simple in theory, but in reality leads to nonstop hilarious situations from which Daisy’s sensible, ultra-responsible, sexy grandson, Devlin, has to rescue them. Chloe also has to deal with a business that needs revamping, Devlin’s matchmaking relatives, and the Monroes’ longtime feud with another family. Ciotta’s wit adds spark to this tale of extended-family joys and sorrows, smalltown living, and complicated characters with secrets that will keep readers waiting eagerly for the next Monroe family story. Agent: Amy Moore-Benson, AMB Literary Management. (Sept.)