Positively Pippa

Starred review from April 10, 2017
Hegger (Nobody’s Princess) invites readers into the delightfully quirky small town of Ghost Falls, Utah, in the warmly sincere first book of a contemporary romance series. Pippa Turner was a media darling, thanks to her makeover show, until a vengeful ex sabotaged her career. Now she has run back home in disgrace, the most hated woman in America. Back in Ghost Falls are her very complicated family—including her diva grandmother, Phi—and Matt, her high school crush, who feels beholden to Phi. Matt’s family situation is as complex as Pippa’s, and their separate struggles hamper their sizzling and sensually fun fling. What begins as a simple second-chance romance quickly transforms into a beautiful, frank examination of love, family dynamics, and following one’s dreams. Hegger’s unflinching, candid portrayal of interpersonal and generational communication elevates the story to the sublime. Shunning clichés and contrived circumstances, she uses realistic, relatable situations to create a world that readers will want to visit time and again. Agent: Nalini Akolekar, Spencerhill Associates.

Starred review from April 15, 2017
When Pippa's career explodes on national television and she returns home, the last thing she expects is to fall in love...or to heal the rift between three generations of women in her family.After her ex, a producer for her makeover show, edits a clip of Pippa in a way that makes her one of the most reviled women in Hollywood, she goes back to the place she feels safest--her hometown of Ghost Falls. Her grandmother Phi (short for Philomene) was a great opera singer who packed houses and performed for royalty before returning home to care for her daughter, Emily. Phi's absence in Emily's childhood created an almost irreparable distance between them that carried over to Emily's oldest daughter, Laura. Phi tried to make up for lost time when Pippa was born, but instead of bringing the four women together, it divided them: artistic Phi and Pippa against sensible Emily and Laura. So, upon returning home, Pippa takes refuge in her grandmother's house, where her childhood friend and high school crush, Matt Evans, is doing contracting work. All the problems that keep cropping up at Phi's place seem to be the result of intentional, but luckily unskilled, sabotage. While Pippa is busy putting her life back together and Matt is trying to figure out what to do with his, some of Phi's mementos from her career go missing. Is it theft, or have they been misplaced? This first book in the Ghost Falls series has a bit of everything--mystery, sex, love, family drama--and it's all exceptionally well-done. The mystery is compelling. The heat factor for the sex is off the charts. The familial drama is bittersweet and poignant. Most important, the amount of love in this book doesn't stop with romance--maternal and familial love are given as much of a spotlight as the story between Pippa and Matt. This is the type of romance that makes readers fall in love not just with characters, but with authors as well.

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