Seitz (Prints Charming
) continues to integrate fiction and scrapbooking themes in her new chick lit series, with mixed results. Thirty-year-old Tandy Sinclair is a hotshot attorney in Orlando, Fla., who is trying to quell memories of her homeless childhood. When an ethical dilemma causes Tandy to take a leave of absence from work, she heads home to the small town of Stars Hill, Tenn. There, she runs into her hunky high school sweetheart, who has started a band and now runs a cafe. Tandy's three adopted and diverse sisters (in an equal-opportunity contrivance that feels forced, one is Asian, one African-American and one Caucasian) urge Tandy to re-evaluate her priorities and give her old flame a second chance. References to scrapbooking are worked into as many scenes as possible, which will please hobbyists. However, problems plague the novel, including prolonged passages, lengthy back-to-back dialogue and too much mechanical detail. Other passages are breathlessly dramatic (“Daddy waited down that winding gravel path. Daddy—and a lifetime of memories”). The timeworn cliché of the city girl returning home to the country to find love and wisdom is in full force, and the ending holds no surprises. Plans call for each book in the series to feature a different sister; readers will hope subsequent installments have more substance. (Jan.)
