Pieces of Blue

Goldberg Sloan (I’ll Be There) captures the resilience of a widow seeking to provide stability for her children in this emotional contemporary romance. After Lindsey Hill’s husband, Paul, disappears—and presumably drowns—in a surfing accident, Lindsey untangles the financial fallout of Paul’s struggling tech company’s demise and takes a chance at rebuilding her family’s life by buying a remote Hawaiian motel, sight unseen, with Paul’s life insurance money. The angst of solo parenting three children—14-year-old Olivia, 12-year-old Carlos, and seven-year-old Sena—coupled with a lack of experience at motel management proves difficult. Enter Chris Young, who stayed at the motel with his wife before she died from cancer and offers to help Lindsey make some much needed repairs. Lindsey is surprised to feel the spark of attraction long missing from her life—but nothing is as simple as it seems, and Chris has some secrets of his own. Empathetic yet flawed characters navigating deep, painful problems add authenticity to the resonant story, and the mystery of Paul’s disappearance keeps things tense. Readers will devour this in one sitting. Agent: Amy Berkower, Writers House. (May)