A Piece of My Heart

Sala’s clunky fourth Blessings, Georgia series (after Saving Jake) combines second chances and homespun sweetness in a pithy story. Mercy Dane has spent the majority of her life alone, bouncing from one foster home to another while learning how to bake tasty treats and rely on herself. A Christmas good deed catapults her from the big city of Savannah, Ga., to the small town of Blessing, where she finds much more than holiday cheer. Police chief Lon Pittman never forgot the anonymous young woman he met seven years ago on the worst night of her life. Imagine his surprise when the leather-clad, motorcycle-riding woman who blows into town to donate her rare-type blood and save the life of one of the local nurses turns out to be the one woman who was never far from his thoughts. The story is rife with clichés. The essence of small-town life and the joys of chosen family shine through, and glimpses into the thoughts and lives of the secondary characters give the plot some depth and a sense of continuity, but this still feels like Sala phoned it in. Agent: Meredith Bernstein, Meredith Bernstein Literary. (May)