Three Good Things

September 17, 2012
Since her divorce, Ellen McClarety has opened up a successful bake shop in her small Wisconsin town and struggled to settle into single life. Her sister, Lanie, is an accomplished attorney with a newborn child, but she fears her husband, Rob, may be cheating on her with one of his co-workers. Ellen begins dating Henry, a local man still hung up on his recently deceased wife, but right when Ellen lets her guard down, her ex comes slinking back. Meanwhile, Lanie tries to get to the bottom of Rob’s distant behavior. Throughout the drama, the sisters bemoan the death of their mother years ago, though they soon realize that together they can pull through. But even with a sister by one’s side, nothing is as simple as it seems. Francis’s tepid chick lit debut is a feel-good story, but there’s little of substance—the action revolves around tangled love interests, misunderstandings, deaths, and easy coincidences. Francis’s portrayal of family dynamics rings true, but it’s not enough to sustain interest. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency.

October 15, 2012
A work of fiction about characters who could be your next-door neighbors. The third-person narrative is straightforward and conversational, almost like gossip over morning coffee in the kitchen. Ellen and Lanie are sisters who lost their wise and loving mother, a baker, when Ellen was 16 and Lanie was 6. Their father, a librarian, drifted into his own world of grief and literature, while Ellen raised Lanie. After a miscarriage, Ellen's marriage to the handsome, seductive Max falls apart, and they divorce. She opens a bakery and offers daily baking tips as well as grammar lessons to her customers. Lanie, meanwhile, goes to law school and represents both wealthy clients in divorce actions and poor clients seeking restraining orders against abusive partners. She needs to make money to contribute to a comfortable lifestyle with her architect husband, but she wants to help poor women. When she gives birth to her son Benjamin, both her marriage and her career are stressed to near breaking points. Both women miss their mother but remember her sage advice, "at the end of every day you can always find three good things that happened," and they love, support and advise each other. When Ellen finds romance with a charming customer, she invites her sister and brother-in-law to vacation with them on the island of Nantucket, and the healing energy reaches out both ways. Despite a heartbreaking discovery for both Ellen and her new beau, there is a happy ending. Like Ellen's pastries described in mouthwatering detail, the book is warm and comforting.

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September 15, 2012

This first novel is a toothsome tale of two Wisconsin sisters: Ellen McClarety, recently divorced proprietor of the bakeshop The Singular Kringle, and Lanie Taylor, wife, new mother, and ubersuccessful divorce attorney. Between the shop, her books, and a blossoming romance with one of her customers, Ellen's life is as full as one of her kringle pastries. Still, she has yet to come to terms with her failed marriage, especially when her ex-husband keeps popping up. Meanwhile, Lanie struggles with her own challenges, namely, balancing motherhood with the demands of her career. Her long-suffering husband, Rob, is relegated to third place in her priorities, at least until Lanie begins to suspect that he's involved in an affair with the office hottie. VERDICT Francis, whose former career in book editing finds an outlet in The Singular Kringle's grammar tip of the day, has produced a debut as light, sweet, and fluffy as Danish pastry dough. Culinary romance lovers--fans of Sharon Boorstin, Susan Mallery, and Deirdre Martin--will devour it.--Jeanne Bogino, New Lebanon Lib., NY

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2012
Ellen McClarety divorced her charming bum of a husband, Max, and, inspired by her late mother's cookbook, got a fresh start with a kringle bakery. Ellen's younger sister, Lanie, is struggling to balance motherhood with a satisfying law career. Lanie's husband, Rob, flounders, unappreciated, at his architecture firm, and Lanie begins to wonder if Rob's late hours have to do with a hot coworker. Then Max comes back and threatens both Ellen's fragile heart and her budding relationship with a shy horticulturist. First-novelist Francis manages some big plot twists without throwing off the quiet, even tone of the book, and Ellen's obsession with grammar has a surprising payoff. Some of the characterization wavers; Henry goes from a shy, grieving horticulturist to bro-ing down with Rob over sports and beer. But Ellen and Lanie are great characters, being both sister- and mother-figure to each other. The novel doesn't quite achieve the emotional intensity of Susan Wiggs' or Kristin Hannah's work, but Ellen's journey is an engaging one. For daring readers, there is a kringle recipe in the back.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)