Redesigning Happiness

This tale of a woman faced with an old lover in the midst of her new relationship attempts to trade on shock value and ends up simply running on too long. Yvonne Cable is trying to build a stable life for her six-year-old son, Jacob, in present-day Atlanta. She has a successful design business, a great kid, and a loving fiancé; what more could she want? Then Jake’s father, Richard Barrington, comes back into the picture and shakes up everything Yvonne believes she has. The story trades on many familiar romance subplots: past love returned, a need to accept oneself, and the desire for the perfect family. Brooks tries to shake things up by throwing in some new twists, but these introduce additional plot lines that get wrapped up at unnecessary length. Fans of fade-to-black romance with Christian undertones may enjoy this mostly unsexy story, but other readers will be put off by the compensatory drama. Agent: Tricia Skinner, Fuse Literary Agency .(Aug.)