Christa Comes Out of Her Shell

Waxman’s lighthearted latest (after Adult Assembly Required) follows a former child star turned reclusive scientist who’s thrust back into the spotlight when her naturalist father resurfaces after disappearing 25 years earlier. Jasper Liddle was presumed dead after his plane crashed in the Alaskan wilderness, and he returns now, having recovered from amnesia, to find his broadcast agent eager for him and his daughter, Christa, to accept all the media offers being thrown their way. As a preteen, Christa rose to fame after Jasper’s disappearance, appearing on TV talk shows with her mother to carry on her father’s legacy. She now studies snails on a remote island and hopes to keep it that way, having flamed out Lindsey Lohan–style (“Butterfly Babe Bares Buns in Beverly Hills,” went the headline of one article covering her arrest at 17 for disorderly conduct). Making matters even more complicated is Christa’s recent reconnection with childhood acquaintance Nathan Donovan, whom she now falls in love with. Meanwhile, garrulous Jasper details to reporters how he fell in love with the woman who cared for him after his crash, and attempts to win back Christa’s mother with mixed results. Christa’s romance subplot is too pedestrian for the amount of pages devoted to it, but Waxman churns up plenty of roiling family drama. Readers will relish this lively take on legacy and manipulation. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, CAA. (Apr.)