Harper's Moon

With its strong characters, heartfelt emotions, beautiful courtship and convincing dramas, this is a romance that's everything a love story should be, and then some. Fleeing her abusive marriage to Wall Street mover-and-shaker Tom Mahoney, Annie Taylor winds up in secluded Burnsville, nestled in the rolling western mountains of North Carolina. Annie designs and makes art quilts and sees Burnsville as a peaceful place to pursue her craft, far enough away from Tom to be safe. She rents an abandoned cottage up the hill from reclusive travel writer Jed Harper. But her peace is shattered by random, inexplicable acts of vandalism on the cottage and by the assault on her heart from too-handsome Jed, a man who resists Annie even as he's drawn closer to her. Judson employs a lovely, flowing writing style as she carefully brings together two wounded people. Additional drama is provided by the ever-present menace of Tom, by the mysteriously driven vandal and by the well-depicted, thoroughly likeable folks of tiny Burnsville. (July)