In this latest from the mega-best-selling Mallery, three cousins on Blackberry Island wrestle with what comes next. Sophie has returned home after her business crashes and realizes that she must let go to go forward. Kristine dreams of opening a bakery shop, but it might smash up her marriage. Heather wants to go to college on the mainland, but her mother keeps having crises. With a 350,000-copy paperback and 10,000-copy hardcover first printing.

In this poignant small-town charmer, Mallery (The Summer of Sunshine and Margot) beautifully illustrates the power of female friendship and the importance of reaching for one's dreams. After the Los Angeles office of Sophie Lane's cat products company goes up in flames, she moves her small business back home to Blackberry Island, Wash., where her cousins, Kristine and Amber, also live. Kristine, a stay-at-home mom of three sons, dreams of expanding her weekend business of selling cookies into a full-scale bakery but her husband disapproves. Amber's 20-year-old daughter, Heather, nurses ambitions of leaving for business school, but is trapped on the island by her codependent mom who relies on Heather for emotional and financial support. Mallery alternates perspective between Sophie, Kristine, and Heather as each woman works to balance her familial and romantic relationships with her career goals. Surrounded by a first-rate cast of supporting characters—most notably Dugan, a hunky tai chi instructor with a secret, who falls for Sophie—Mallery's women are achingly real. This irresistible, heartfelt story will appeal to romance readers and women's fiction fans alike. Agent: Annelise Robey, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (Feb.)