Grace Grows

July 9, 2012
Tightly controlled and emotionally constrained, textbook editor Grace Barnum is leading a step-by-step life in Sumners’ compelling if slightly patchy debut. Living with her often-gone boyfriend, Grace is uncharacteristically “dressed like a call girl” the day she meets aspiring singer Tyler Wilkie. From then on Grace and Tyler share a completely chaste friendship that hovers on the brink of being an affair. Grace refuses to admit her feelings for Tyler, or even think to tell her boyfriend how much time she spends with the scruffy musician. When she realizes Tyler is writing songs about her, she panics and does all she can to push away this chance at genuine, world-shattering love. The story’s focus on its frustratingly stubborn heroine, her well-developed family ties, and the confusing dance between longing heart and shuttered psyche creates a slow yet satisfying, engaging quality that keeps the pages turning. Agent: Laurie Liss, Sterling Lord Literistic.

September 15, 2012
Textbook editor Grace Barnum lives life by the book, secure with a solid job, a responsible and caring live-in boyfriend, and a to-the-minute day planner. Then she meets Tyler Wilke, an aspiring singer-songwriter who has just moved to New York. This isn't the typical tale about a woman choosing between two men. Rather, it is the story of Grace caught between the ordinary life she believes she's meant to have and the twists of fate that keep pulling her and Tyler together. Just as Grace is ready to give everything up for Tyler, he beats the odds and begins a rise to stardom that keeps them apart. It takes a huge life event to bring these timing-challenged lovers together. This out-of-the-ordinary romance novel is peppered with lyrics to Tyler's original songs, which were written by Sumners' songwriter husband. Readers will fall for the swoonworthy hero and root for the couple to overcome each obstacle.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)