Love on the Sound

The first in the Lopez Island contemporary series is competently executed, with sexy love scenes and tender moments, but the heart is missing. After a car accident kills Amy’s husband, she leaves behind her old life in Oregon and starts over as the owner of a bed-and-breakfast in the San Juan islands near Seattle. Former Hollywood darling Ben Morrison is floundering in his career and personal life, and Amy’s B and B on Lopez Island is the perfect place to hide from the paparazzi and straighten himself out. In a town where everyone knows everyone’s business, Amy and Ben’s passionate affair is a foregone conclusion. Many of the best moments in this romance occur when the protagonists pause their sheet-scorching to hang out with other people, including Ben’s school friends, Amy’s former in-laws, kids in the community theater, and Amy’s friends in town. Amy and Ben are painstakingly crafted characters, but they don’t have any believable barriers to their happy ending. A lot happens during the eight weeks Ben is in town, but he doesn’t seem interested in going back to Los Angeles, so it’s perplexing both when the lovers separate and when they get back together. (BookLife)