The Curl Up and Dye

A colorful crowd of regulars at a beauty shop in Blessings, Ga., inhabit Sala’s cheeky, if cliché-ridden, latest. In high school, LilyAnn Bronte seemed destined for great things: she was head cheerleader, valedictorian, Peachy Keen Queen, and football captain Randy Joe Bentonfield’s “almost fiancée.” But when Randy Joe was killed in Afghanistan, Lily’s life stopped. Eleven years later, she’s still working at the local pharmacy and hasn’t given a second thought to her dreams. When hunky newcomer T.J. Lachlan rolls into town with a tricked-out pickup, Lily is finally inspired to move on. Fortunately, makeovers are what Ruby Dye and her co-workers at the Curl Up and Dye Salon do best. Lily can also depend on her next-door neighbor and lifelong best friend, Mike, who has spent the past 11 years pining for her. Though Ruby (and almost everyone else in town) knows Lily and Mike belong together, a few obstacles, including an opportunistic seductress and a dangerous sexual predator, stand in their way. Sala offers well-developed characters and settings, but the happy ending is never in doubt. A few jarring dark moments attempt to elevate the story above predictability, but don’t fit the otherwise lighthearted tone. Agent: Meredith Bernstein, the Meredith Bernstein Literary Agency. (Feb. 2014)