Crossing Hearts: Cross Creek, Book 1

The second-chance-at-love story in Kincaid’s first Cross Creek romance falters because the heroine opts to avoid parental disapproval instead of confronting it. Crushed by a diagnosis of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, Emerson Montgomery leaves her position as a physical therapist with the Super Bowl–winning Las Vegas Lightning and returns to her hometown of Cross Creek, Va., to begin working out of the local doctor’s office. Her first patient is her ex-boyfriend, Hunter Cross, whose shoulder injury needs rehabbing so he can help his father and brothers maintain the largest family farm in the Shenandoah Valley. Emerson’s single-mindedness in keeping her MS a secret from everybody in town—most especially her parents—hijacks what is otherwise a sweet reunion story. She does tell Hunter, but then forces him to collude in her secrecy, with predictable results. It’s hard to pull off romances focused on big issues, and Kincaid (Skin Deep) doesn’t quite manage it. Agent: Nalini Akolekar, Spencerhill Associates. (Feb.)