Summer Magic

Recently divorced and considering a career change, 28-year-old high school teacher Caryn Edwards eagerly anticipates the solitude of a summer vacation at her friends' North Carolina beachfront home. The peace and quiet Edwards desires is quickly disturbed, however, when 35-year-old architect and urban planner Logan Prescott informs her he will be sharing the house. He's in desperate need of refuge from press attention, having just nixed marriage plans into one of the South's most prominent African-American families. Marble Island proves to be a perfect romantic backdrop as both Edwards and Prescott come to terms with emotional baggage, while struggling to control their undeniable mutual attraction. Using Edwards's journal entries to give insight into her character, Alers (Careless Whispers) makes an against-all-odds relationship believable. The author successfully weaves in commentary on racial issues: for instance, Logan was raised by white parents, and the effects of fine gradations of skin color on social status within the black community plays a role in the narrative. The ending is hardly a surprise, but that detracts little from this satisfying love story. (May)