Sweet Salt Air

July 29, 2013
Set on the fictional Maine island of Quinnipeague, Delinksy’s novel centers on two childhood friends, Charlotte and Nicole, who reunite to coauthor a cookbook about the local cuisine. (Warning: there are tantalizing food descriptions in this book. Don’t listen to it while hungry.) Narrator Marguerite Gavin’s voice is low and sensuous. This serves her well in narrating the story and in voicing Charlotte, the more worldly and assertive of the two friends. But it fails to adequately capture Nicole’s childlike nature. Early in the novel, Nicole’s voice is described as being close to that of a 10-year-old girl, but Gavin sometimes provides her with almost the same resonant, wry tone she gives Charlotte. Also, Gavin’s down east accent is on-again, off-again, with some local characters having no discernible accent, and others sounding almost like caricatures. However, Gavin’s rendition of Leo, the surly bad-boy neighbor up the road, is spot-on and quite entertaining. A St. Martin’s hardcover.

May 15, 2013
Two old friends, troubled by present crises and past mistakes, reunite on an island off the coast of Maine. It's been 10 years since Nicole, a food blogger, has seen her best friend, Charlotte. The separation is due in part to the women's divergent life paths. Nicole married Julian, a prominent pediatric surgeon and sought-after consultant, and is stepmother to his two children. Charlotte travels the world on magazine assignments. Now, Nicole is at her parents' summer home on Quinnipeague Island, publishing contract in hand, preparing to write a cookbook on local cuisine. She is also there to ready the place to sell after her father's sudden passing. When Nicole summons Charlotte to Quinnipeague to help with the book, Charlotte has reservations due to a secret she has harbored for years: Shortly before Nicole's wedding, she had a drunken one-night stand with Julian. A pregnancy resulted; the child was given up for adoption. Sharing the seaside house while Julian is away, Charlotte and Nicole bond once more over the challenges of wresting recipes from the crusty islanders and over best-selling beach read Salt. When told that Leo, son of a reputed witch, refuses to divulge the magical lore of his mother's herb farm, Charlotte, who cannot resist an unwilling interview subject, seeks him out. At first blush an eccentric recluse, Leo proves to be not only a dead ringer for Salt's romantic hero, but also its pseudonymous author, which explains that new sailboat and those expensive renovations to his weather-beaten house. Charlotte is distracted from their blossoming romance by a moral dilemma: Julian, Nicole reveals, has MS and wants to try an experimental and dangerous stem cell treatment protocol. Nicole is opposed to the risky procedure, but when Charlotte reveals how and why she has access to just the genetically compatible umbilical stem cells Julian might need, the friendship is threatened. The result: promising complications, rendered less than compelling by plodding, talky narration. Despite some appetizing menu items, pretty standard fare.

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April 15, 2013
Delinsky's latest won't disappoint her fans. Friendship, romance, and her trademark New England settingthis time, an island off the coast of Maineare all present and accounted for. The focus is on Nicole and Charlotte, girlhood friends who've been estranged for the past 10 years. They reunite at Nicole's family's summer home to collaborate on a cookbook, both of them harboring secrets. When Nicole reveals her husband, Julian, is suffering from multiple sclerosis, Charlotte comes clean that she and Julian shared a drunken one-night stand before he married Nicole. The affair resulted in a baby Charlotte gave up for adoption, a child whose stem cells hold the key to Julian's recovery. Complicating matters further, Charlotte has fallen for the island's enigmatic bad boy, Leo, who, it turns out, has penned a best-selling novel with a plot that closely mirrors their lovers from different worlds relationship. Leo's tale ends on a sour note, placing his future with Charlotte in doubt. Never fear; Delinsky knows when a happy ending is in order. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Delinsky's popularity increases with each book, so this novel is being rolled out with a gigantic print run and a similarly far-reaching promotional campaign.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)