Can’t Help Falling

In her well-received debut, Close to You, Isaac tapped into the worlds created by J.R.R. Tolkien and a contemporary New Zealand tour of the sites associated with the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. This enchanting follow-up portrays an unlikely love story between a man and a woman who have much more in common than their shared interest in C.S. Lewis’s land of Narnia. Peter Carlisle is an injured Olympic-level rower struggling to get his life back. While looking for a birthday present for his mother, he opens a wardrobe in an Oxford antique store and discovers Emilia Mason, who is joining her mother’s search for Lewis’s fictional land. She came to Oxford in hopes of reinventing herself and atoning for a past mistake. While romantic sparks fly between Peter and Emilia every time they meet, the list of reasons that they should not be together is long; among other things, Peter is the board member overseeing Emilia’s work at SpringBoard, a charity devoted to getting books into the hands of poor children. The story’s faith elements are not overwhelming, but they underpin the burgeoning relationship between Peter and Emilia. Fans of Isaac’s debut will be thrilled that previous protagonists Allie and Jackson return as supporting characters. One need not be a Narnia fan to settle in and enjoy Isaac’s story, which romance readers will easily fall in love with. (Oct.)