Safe in My Arms

February 1, 2021

In Bly's Lizzie & Dante, a Shakespearean scholar heads to Italy after an ugly breakup and an end-of-the-road health diagnosis and meets a handsome chef--but is this any time to start a relationship? In debuter Christie's The Rehearsals, Megan Givens and Tom Prescott plan to call off their wedding after a calamitous rehearsal dinner but wake up the next morning in a time loop, endlessly repeating the event until maybe they get it right (100,000-copy first printing). Clancy's Shoulder Season reveals what happens when shy young church organist Sherri Taylor switches paths after her parents' death to become a Playboy bunny (100,000-copy first printing). The New York Times best-selling Guillory's While We Were Dating features Ben Stephens, Theo's brother from The Wedding Party, who's trying to stay strictly professional while working with a famous actress. In Macomber's stand-alone It's Better This Way, Julia Jones has sold her business, moved into a condominium, and put her marital breakup behind her, but she isn't looking for love--until handsome resident Heath comes along. In Island Queen, romance writer Riley goes mainstream historical to reimagine the life of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas, who rose from enslavement to become a rich and powerful landowner in the colonial West Indies (100,000-copy first printing). Pretty Little Liars author Shepard's Safe in My Arms stars three out-of-the-loop moms who try to discover why the principal of the children's elite California preschool was attacked. If you've got Nine Lives, take this journey with Steel from Chicago and Paris to London and Monaco. In Hugo/Bradbury/Eisner winner Straczynski's latest, an unsuccessful young writer pulls together a crew of equally disaffected folks, buys an old bus, and proclaims Together We Will Go--straight to California, where they will then drive off a cliff (100,000-copy first printing). In debuter Yoder's one-of-a-kind Nightbitch, a woman who's convinced that she is turning into a dog ferrets out answers in A Field Guide to Magical Women and links up with a group of mothers with their own secret persuasions. Optioned for film.

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 10, 2021
In this propulsively plotted if ultimately muddled page-turner from bestseller Shepard (Reputation), three wildly different women, all newcomers to upscale Raisin Beach, Calif., become unlikely sisters in sleuthing after their children’s swanky preschool, Silver Swans Nursery Academy, becomes a decidedly unsafe space. First come the anonymous threats in their kids’ backpacks received by each of them: Andrea Vaughan, an East Coast transplant, who’s hiding a big secret from her wealthy WASP family; video game designer Lauren Smith, who’s struggling with postpartum issues her husband insists she keep quiet; and financially strapped Ronnie Stuckey, who hopes her clueless kindergarten teacher boyfriend never learns how she makes her living
. Then an attack at Silver Swans puts the school’s director in the ICU—and the trio in the crosshairs. Though amusing and fast-paced, the novel founders with attempts to fold in more serious topics such as domestic violence, child abduction, and postpartum rage, as well as a final cascade of unconvincing coincidences to tie up plot lines. Fans of Big Little Lies may have fun. Agent: Andy McNicol, William Morris Endeavor.

June 15, 2021
Three women who are new to a Southern California beach town are found at a crime scene and, as the investigation takes place, seek to hide the secrets that brought them to town. Andrea Vaughan, a single mom to her son, Arthur; Ronnie Stuckey, mom to Esme; and Lauren Smith, mom to Matthew, are all new to Raisin Beach, a well-to-do community within commuting distance of Los Angeles. Each of their children is a student at the town's expensive and elite Silver Swans Nursery Academy. But after each of the women receive an anonymous note trying to get them to leave the school, the school's director, Piper Jovan, is violently attacked and left in a coma. Andrea, Ronnie, and Lauren were in the school's hallway when it happened, though none of them saw, heard, or remembers exactly what transpired. And all three have secrets they're trying to hide--and so does Piper. The story unspools from the various women's perspectives as they try to keep their pasts from public eyes. The secrets are both large and small, deeply hidden and almost transparent: a kidnapped child, embezzlement, work as a stripper, postpartum rage, being wealthy, and being transgender, among others. More than a narrative, the story splits and diverts into many streams before easing back to those few days that pass between the attack on Piper and the resolution of the police investigation. Coincidences abound, and readers are asked to take the deus ex machina moments without questioning the unlikelihood of their occurrences. While there are parallels to Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies, this volume doesn't reach the same heights.

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July 30, 2021
This is as much a novel about three women watching their lives derail as it is a mystery. There are a few surprises and some suspense, but the focus is on how the women come together and find strength in their friendship.The three meet while delivering their children to an elite preschool, immediately bonding over both their shared sense of being outsiders amid the well-heeled parents in a community "chock-full of baby savants."" What would Piaget think? After menacing notes appear in their children's backpacks and the principal of the school is attacked and left comatose, the Mom Squad, as Andrea, Lauren, and Ronnie call themselves, try to determine what's going on, only to find themselves suspects. This dark look at preschool is awash with tongue-in-cheek commentary on the delusions of the elite and should be perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult and Ayelet Waldman. Shepard is also the best-selling author of the Pretty Little Liars YA series.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 30, 2021

Shepard ("Pretty Little Liars" series) returns with a fun novel featuring a group of women a bit older than the "Liars." In idyllic coastal Raisin Beach, CA, the seaside homes are fabulous and so are all the moms. Despite the economic fallout of the past year, they are decked out and ready to see and be seen when their little ones start preschool at one of the best schools in town, Silver Swans Nursery Academy. Movie-star beautiful Piper Jovan is the school's director. Three moms new to Silver Swans bond over a flask of Bailey's, tipping nips into their coffee. Lauren's TV show writer husband is too busy to enter the building; Andrea is terrified that she will be outed as a trans woman; and Ronnie is hiding her job at Topless Maids from everyone, even her boyfriend. Then Lauren, Andrea, and Ronnie receive threatening notes in their children's backpacks and Piper is violently attacked, putting her in the hospital. Who could have done such a thing, and are these three moms involved? VERDICT In the spirit of Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies, a fancy California preschool is the perfect stomping ground for intrigue. Lies, jealousy, sex, and money swirl together in this lively escapade. --Beth Gibbs, Davidson, NC

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.