Where You’re Planted

This heartfelt tale from Sweeney (Take Me Home) kicks off with a meet-ugly in the middle of a hurricane in Houston, Tex. When the storm hits, Tansy Perkins, a single mom and county library interim manager, risks her life to save the library’s pet parakeets—which earns her a condescending chewing out from handsome stranger Jack Reid, the new director of the nearby botanic garden who’s taken his boat out to rescue townsfolk. He’s so rude, in fact, that Tansy almost refuses his help. When the library must later move from its flooded space into a small shed adjacent to Jack’s gardens, the pair continue to butt heads—until they decide to join forces to organize an upcoming family festival to promote their respective programs and hopefully get some funding. Working together, their unexpected mutual attraction leads to a tentative romance, complicated by Tansy’s resolution to be self-reliant and Jack’s postdivorce fear of commitment. Sweeney paces the relationship development perfectly, exposing her leads’ complicated pasts with an authenticity that will resonate with readers. It’s a sweet treat. (July)