How I Came to Sparkle Again

August 20, 2012
Jill Anthonyâreeling from a miscarriage that left her infertile and prompted her husband to cheat and file for divorceâleaves Texas and returns to her charming hometown of Sparkle, Colo., in this wintry rom-com. Relieved of all she had come to call her life, Jill jumps at opportunities to reinvent herself and forge aheadâshe and her best friend, Lisa, catch up, commiserate, and hit the slopes, and Jill finds work as a babysitter for Cassie Jones, the 10-year-old daughter of a recently deceased childhood acquaintance. Throughout ski season, Jill reconnects with her roots and love of "making turns" in fresh powder, but when the snows melt, she knows she must decide once and for all if Sparkle is to be her home again. Though outcomes are telegraphed far in advance and the pacing mimics Sparkle's layabout ski bums more than its exhilarating ski runs, McLaren's (On the Divinity of Second Chances) intimate portrait of a seasonal town and its colorful characters makes for an entertaining ride. Agent: Meg Ruley and Christina Hogrebe, Jane Rotrosen Agency.

May 1, 2012

The "sparkle" of the title is a much-desired state of mind, but it's also a place, specifically, a ski town in Colorado. One snow-sparkly winter, love-hungry Lisa, newly returned Jill, and ten-year-old Cassie, who's lost her mom to cancer, all meet for the better.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2012
Love gone wrong drives Jill from Texas back to her hometown of Sparkle, Colorado, where she straps on her skis and attempts to parse her life as she whooshes down the slopes again. Free-lovin' Lisa finally decides to stop just giving it away and hold out for the really right guytoo bad that guy might turn out to be her man-ho friend, Tom. For 10-year-old Cassie, life stopped making sense when her mother died of cancer, and she now spends her time searching for messages from her mother in the natural beauty of Sparkle. These three lives connect in McLaren's (On the Divinity of Second Chances, 2009) third sweet, funny, slightly uneven novel. The themes of forgiveness, redemption, and new starts mesh together throughout the story as the characters bumble around while trying to pick up the pieces of their lives. Although the writing lacks the effortless grace of a wordsmith, this is nevertheless a compelling read for anyone who enjoys Luanne Rice, Sarah Addison Allen, or Jacquelyn Mitchard.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)