After unexpectedly losing her 35-year-old husband to pneumonia, Tess Hartsong flees to a ramshackle cabin in the Tennessee mountains. She can't face all the pitying looks and well-meaning platitudes anymore. She's left her life as a midwife behind and plans on loudly dancing away her emotions on the mountain—until a handsome neighbor screams at her to turn down the music. The neighbor turns out to be famous street artist Ian North, who has fled to the mountain in order to work in solitude. Instead, he has to contend with a half-naked dancing woman and his longtime friend Bianca, who is pregnant. When Bianca goes into labor early and a storm prevents her from getting to the hospital, Tess is forced to use her midwife skills again and ends up being persuaded to help care for the preemie. Soon Tess finds herself becoming attached to baby Wren, prickly Ian, and the small town that needs her outspokenness. VERDICT While the multiple rare medical conditions that drive the plot may strain credulity, Ian and Tess are pitch-perfect in this sweet and sizzling stand-alone story from best-selling Phillips (First Star I See Tonight). [See Prepub Alert, 12/9/19.]—Melissa DeWild, Comstock Park, MI

Two people determined to withdraw from society instead discover the power of human connection in this deeply felt romance from Phillips (First Star I See Tonight). Midwife Tess Hartsong retreats to remote Runaway Mountain, Tenn., following the death of her husband. While letting loose with a cathartic one-person dance party, Tess provokes the anger of Ian North, a reclusive artist who just moved nearby and confronts Tess over the volume of her music. He's quickly followed by the pregnant Bianca, who introduces herself as Ian's wife and strikes up an easy friendship with Tess. When Bianca goes into early labor with no time to get to the hospital, Ian calls upon Tess's help in a tense, deeply emotional scene that ends with Bianca's death. Ian hires Tess to help take care of the premature baby and, despite her best efforts, Tess can't help getting attached to the newborn. Raising the baby together while facing a firestorm of town gossip, Tess and Ian grow close and open up about their secrets, among them the true nature of Ian and Bianca's relationship. Phillips layers this poignant love story with robust descriptions of mountain scenery and society, and a well-handled subplot about Tess's fight for comprehensive sex education for the town's teens. This stirring romance is sure to capture readers' hearts. Agent: Steve Axelrod, the Axelrod Agency. (June)