Mine

Repetitious dialogue and uninspiring characters mar this tale of domestic discord from Cole (Saving Beck). Right after Tessa Taylor drops two of her children in Atlanta for their annual three-week visit with her parents, she turns around for the five-hour drive back to Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., to meet her husband, Ethan, at their vacation home. The couple live the high life—he’s an architect who travels a lot for work; she owns Blush, a successful organic cosmetics company. But Ethan is stuck in New York, and Hurricane Fiona is barreling down on Florida. At the beach house, Tessa discovers proof on Ethan’s iPad that he’s having an affair with a 26-year-old nursing student, Lindsey Vale. Fuming with “inky red rage,” Tessa pretends to be Nathan and sends a message to Lindsey inviting her to come over, strip, and handcuff herself to their bed. (Tessa gave Nathan handcuffs the previous Valentine’s Day.) The setup is more suited to a short story than a novel, and the hurricane turns out to be just hot air—a gimmick, not a threat. Fans of the author’s romance novels will best appreciate this outing. (May)