The Missed Connection

At the start of this quirky but uneven contemporary from bestseller Williams (A Love Song for Ricki Wilde), casting agent Sasha Cruz, who became a recluse after a traumatic stalking incident, decides to reenter the world. After a fortune teller informs Sasha that she’s in for “a chance meeting that’ll set off a chain of events... that’ll end in happily ever after,” Sasha feels sparks with her seatmate on a plane ride to Paris and becomes convinced that he is her soulmate. Unfortunately, the pair are separated before exchanging names or numbers. Worse, Sasha accidentally emails everyone at her new workplace about her mystery man. Her coworkers set out to find him—and wind up finding their own loves in the process, developments that are relayed through cute email exchanges interspersed throughout. Meanwhile, Sasha seeks help from Wesley “Wes” Dane, the detective whom she credits for saving her from her stalker. Late-night calls with Wes lead to Sasha “developing a crush on the guy I hired to find my crush,” and she soon feels torn. The premise is fresh and Williams remains skilled at exploring the lingering effects of trauma, but readers may be unconvinced by Sasha and Wes’s relationship. Sasha continually crosses Wes’s boundaries, including by nonconsensually kissing him at a memorial service for his father, making their happy ending difficult to root for. This doesn’t live up to its potential. (June)