Then He Kissed Me

Cottonbloom (introduced in Kiss Me That Way) is a town divided by the Mississippi River: poor “swamp rats” live on the Louisiana side, and wealthy ’Sips on the Mississippi bank. After a brief childhood idyll, Nash Hawthorne and Tallulah Fournette are separated by the river’s unspoken rules for 18 years. Then Nash returns from Ph.D. studies abroad to take up a professorship at a local college. He’s as nerdy as Tally remembers him, but now he’s also handsome, socially adept, and trained in self-defense. She’s as magnetic as he remembers her, but enigmatic in her prickly manner and tied to dead-end habits—like her connection with Heath Parsons, school bully turned MMA fighter, who’s determined to take Tally for himself. Trentham’s handling of the big battles—class struggle, stalking, physical violence—is deft and personal, making for an easy read but disappointing conclusions. Readers who believe that economic and social discrimination can be solved by identifying personal insecurity and being rescued by a privileged man will find this pleasant beach read ticks all the right boxes. Agent: Kevan Lyon, Marsal Lyon Literary. (July)