Nadia Knows Best

In this quick and ultimately uplifting chick lit romp, released in the U.K. in 2002, bestselling Brit Mansell (To the Moon and Back) weaves together the stories of an untraditional family and its members’ efforts to find love. Nadia Kinsella thinks she has it all: GQ model boyfriend Laurie, loving father James, grandmother Miriam, sisters Clare and Tilly, and admittedly exasperating absentee mother Leonie. When Nadia is stranded in a snowstorm with handsome Jay Tiernan, she remains faithful to Laurie—only to be unceremoniously dumped when she arrives home. Fast-forward 15 months, when Nadia runs into Jay again. As the two move toward a relationship, Laurie returns from L.A. and attempts to win Nadia back. Meanwhile, Clare, Tilly, and James embark on their own romantic adventures. Mansell smoothly toggles between romances, deftly keeping the multiple story lines moving. While not everyone gets a happily-ever-after, readers are left with a sense of hope that things will work out eventually. Agent: Jennifer Unter, RLR Associates. (May)