cover image Sandpiper Shore: Harmony Harbor, Book 6

Sandpiper Shore: Harmony Harbor, Book 6

Debbie Mason. Forever, $7.99 mass market (384p) ISBN 978-1-5387-4422-2

The breakneck pace of Mason’s screwball sixth Harmony Harbor romance sometimes becomes a little too dizzying. Jenna Bell, wistful tag-along to her family’s wedding empire, has lost her matchmaking business to her usurping stepmother, Gwyneth. Her own wedding is providing a little brightness in Jenna’s life—until, at a dress fitting, her fiancé announces that Jenna needs to hand over ring and dress, because he’s going to marry Gwyneth instead. A street brawl ensues, followed—with more whimsy than logic—by a mass arrest, sprained ankle, pole dance, and apartment lockout. Jenna ends up spending the night on the beach with gorgeous Logan Gallagher, a Secret Service agent who’s 10 years her senior. A malicious cop included Logan in the arrest, charging him with assaulting Jenna’s ex, and that doesn’t look good on his record. Jenna knows that Gwyneth will either hand over her business or drop the charges in exchange for the engagement ring; now she has to decide which to ask for. For any fan of light contemporaries, the central plot of Jenna’s misadventures can stand alone, but Mason is not adept with backstories, and the thicket of established connections surrounding the main story won’t make much sense to newcomers. (July)