* WHERE WE BELONG
By Emily Giffin
Heroines: Marian, a hardworking New York TV producer, and Kirby, the moody teenager Marian gave up for adoption
Setting: Manhattan, Chicago, St. Louis
Dilemma: Running her own successful show and dating a major network exec, 36-year-old Marian has the life she’s always wanted — until a knock at her door one night reveals 18-year-old Kirby, who’s tracked down her mysterious birth mother. Suddenly, Marian is forced to face a secret she never told anyone — not even Kirby’s real father, a still-foxy musician named Conrad.
Rating: Veering toward the predictable, the book has a satisfying payoff — and a believable depiction of both sullen teenhood and young love.
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WHERE WE BELONG by Emily Giffin (photo by Elizabeth Lippman)
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* BETWEEN YOU AND ME
By Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
Heroines: Kelsey Wade, a Britney Spears-esque pop star, and Logan Wade, her cousin and assistant
Setting: New York, Los Angeles and Europe
Dilemma: Logan ditches her New York City lifestyle to become the minder to Kelsey, her long-lost cousin — and now the world’s most successful pop tart. It’s no easy task; things quickly start to unravel for Kelsey after her brief marriage comes to an abrupt end, she loses custody of her baby girl and she succumbs to career pressures.
Rating: The fast-paced dialogue makes this a quick read, but the unoriginal plot makes it hard to put the Britney Spears (circa 2008) comparisons out of mind.
* SEATING ARRANGEMENTS
By Maggie Shipstead
Heroines: Preggers bride Daphne, her fragile sister, Livia, and repressed mom, Biddy
Setting: The fictional Nantucket-esque island of Waskeke
Dilemma: It’s Daphne’s wedding weekend, but will her father Winn Van Meter’s “buck-up” brand of blue-blooded conservatism stem the growing tide of lust, envy and rage threatening to engulf the family — or merely drive him into the arms of a nymphomaniac bridesmaid?
Rating: Shipstead is a talented writer, and this appealing social satire yields some truly comic moments as the booze-fueled festivities unfurl — even though some of the characters seem two-dimensionally drawn from the pages of “The Official Preppy Handbook.”
* SERPENT’S KISS
By Melissa de la Cruz
Heroines: Joanna Beauchamp, a stay-at-home witch who can raise the dead, and her two daughters: bartender Freya (specialty: love potions) and archivist Ingrid (specialty: soothsaying)
Setting: The mystical — and fictional — East End town of North Hampton
Dilemma: Something is awry in North Hampton — there’s a rash of burglaries, a ragtag band of lost pixies on the loose and a spirit leaving cryptic messages at a grave site. Can the Beauchamps get to the bottom of it — or will love blind them to the malign forces at work in this second entry to the “Witches of East End” series?
Rating: De la Cruz made her name writing young-adult fiction, and it shows: The fantasy aspect is fun, but the main characters are maddeningly indecisive when it comes to taking action.
* THESE GIRLS
By Sarah Pekkanen
Heroines: Cate, the ambitious features editor of Gloss magazine, and her co-worker/pal/roommate, Renee, who’s vying for the beauty-editor job at Gloss (apparently the only magazine in town)
Setting: Manhattan
Dilemma: Inside the, er, glossy offices of Gloss, the drama is limited to beauty blogs, diet pills, pervy male editors and whether or not the hunky writer will file his cover story on time. But when the workday ends, there are more pressing concerns — like Cate and Renee’s new third roommate, Abby, who harbors a dark secret. Between the three of them, there’s enough family drama to fill a magazine.
Rating: The intrigue over beauty blurbs and story deadlines will be riveting to editors and media types, but not to most other people.
* BEACH COLORS
By Shelley Noble
Heroine: Margaux Sullivan, a hard-edged designer who’s just moved home to the family beach house after her cad of a husband emptied her bank accounts while she was busy conquering Fashion Week
Setting: The fictional beach community of Crescent Cove, Conn. — and Margaux’s family summer getaway
Dilemma: Although not yet divorced, Margaux already has a new love interest: Nick Prescott, the hunky, but quiet, police chief who has crushed on her since she was a teenager. Unfortunately, the slow-as-molasses love story exhausts the reader and doesn’t even result in a real kiss until after page 250.
Rating: Speed it up! While an interesting dilemma with mismatched characters, it would take weeks at the beach to get through this.
*
PORCH LIGHTS
By Dorothea Benton Frank
Heroines: Jackie McMullen, a 35-year-old veteran nurse, and Annie Britt, her 58-year-old separated mother
Setting: Sullivan’s Island in the South Carolina lowcountry
Dilemma: The last thing widow Jackie wants while mourning is a new man chasing her. Meanwhile, her sex-deprived mother is in desperate need of some lovin’. Whatever will they do?
Rating: The one-dimensional characters do nothing but sulk and grate on your nerves for pages upon pages of witless, clichéd dialogue and nonaction.
* SAVING RUTH
By Zoe Fishman
Heroine: Ruth, an endearing college freshman with an unhealthy relationship with food, who spends her first summer home working as a lifeguard with her older brother at the local pool
Setting: A small Alabama town
Dilemma: Having starved herself to a scary 90-something pounds, the previously chubby Ruth still struggles with her self-image in the shadow of her “perfect” jock brother, David. But when a child nearly drowns on their watch, the disconnected siblings, together with Mom and Dad, are forced to face the elephants in the living room.
Rating: Poignant and gripping, this coming-of-age novel tackles low self-esteem and parental pressure with a light touch. Subtract one umbrella for the syrupy “Brady Bunch” ending.
* GETTING OVER MR. RIGHT
By Chrissie Manby
Heroine: Ashleigh Prince, a 32-year-old advertising exec
Setting: London
Dilemma: Ashleigh’s accountant boyfriend of two years, who’s never shown any future commitment, breaks up with her by changing his status to single on Facebook. Just as the song goes, she falls to pieces and spends the entire book plotting inane ways to win him back, which drive her — and her friends and family — crazy. Also thrown into the unrealistic mix: a bachelorette party (wet T-shirt contest, anyone?), a group therapy session and a wedding.
Rating: Would you want to spend one moment with someone who goes to psychics, creates fake Facebook accounts and stalks her ex — and his new girlfriend — in various disguises, all to get him back? Didn’t think so. Watch “Girls” instead — it’s more honest.
* SUMMER BREEZE
By Nancy Thayer
Heroines: Morgan O’Keefe, a 30-year-old mother unhappy being a stay-at-home mom; Natalie Reynolds, a New York artist who wears a lot of black; and Bella Barnaby, a soon-to-be engaged former teacher who moves back home to tend to the family business.
Setting: The Berkshires
Dilemma: A tranquil summer on Dragonfly Lake gets a (small) dose of scandal when Morgan, Natalie and Bella begin to question what they want out of life and love. When they’re not at cringe-worthy wine and cheese girl gab sessions (both Justin Bieber and a Kardashian are name-checked), they’re lusting after each other’s lovers and brothers. And yet, in 303 pages, all the readers get are a few kisses, some post-coital cuddles and lots of canoe rides.
Rating: Who would have thought that a tangled web of love triangles could be such a bore? Perfect for a lakeside snooze.
* THE NEXT BEST THING
By Jennifer Weiner
Heroine: Ruth Saunders, a 27-year-old “Golden Girls”-obsessed sitcom writer left orphaned and scarred by a childhood car accident
Setting: Hollywood
Dilemma: Ruth’s dreams come true when a network greenlights her semi-autobiographical sitcom about an average-looking but plucky girl who moves to Miami with her nana to pursue culinary fame. But TV honchos tinker with her perfect script and change her grandmother’s character into a sex-obsessed septuagenarian while creating a role for Taryn Montaine, a dim-witted blonde who once ran off with the only man Ruth ever loved.
Rating: With all of the Hollywood scandal and behind-the-scene strife, “The Next Best Thing” reads like a robust issue of Us Weekly with a witty bent.
— Christina Amoroso, Mackenzie Dawson, Kirsten Fleming, Mary Huhn, Sheila McClear, Gregory E. Miller, Jane Ridley, Dana Schuster, Carla Spartos and Sara Stewart