A Kiss to Dream on

Hart (Halfway to Paradise) offers a strong contemporary romance that tackles deafness as both a personal problem and a sociopolitical issue. While reporting in Bosnia, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Jackson Puller is devastated when he witnesses the brutal death of a boy he'd been writing about. When Jackson returns home to Washington, D.C., his boss decides he needs a change of pace and assigns him a series of columns on the Wishing Star foundation, run by Dr. Cammy Glynn, a once-deaf psychiatrist who can now hear with the aid of a Cochlear implant. Cammy's immense distrust of journalists, as well as other issues including her hearing impairment, makes her wary of getting too close to Jackson. He has no such qualms, however, and is determined to win her love and trust. For all of Jackson's inner turmoil, he is a hero readers will admire. Both he and Cammy are among the walking wounded, yet each maneuvers well in the world. Hart spends too much time focusing on Cammy's underlying fears of commitment, which by book's end seem unsubstantiated. However, this is a small flaw in what is otherwise a truly enjoyable read. (Dec.)