04/27/2020
Stover (There Galapagos My Heart) launches his Seasons of New Hope series with a gay romance as quaint and enchanting as its setting. After more than a decade away, Vince Amato returns to the bucolic New Hope, Pa., hoping to flip the Hideaway Inn for a tidy profit. But he hadn’t factored Tack O’Leary, the one who got away, into his plans. Tack is now a culinary arts student, and Vince’s business partners convince him to hire Tack as the inn’s chef, offering him room and board at the Inn to sweeten the bargain. Living in such close proximity stirs up old memories, though Vince tries his best to keep Tack at arm’s length. But the bullheaded Vince is reluctantly charmed as Tack drags him to a lavender farm, and out to watch fireworks, and finally to meet Tack’s gender nonconforming six-year-old, Jules. As Vince is seduced by his new life in New Hope, the thought of leaving once the inn is sold becomes more difficult. Stover fleshes out the thin story with vibrant LGBTQ supporting characters, among them the delightful Toula, a transgender bookstore owner who doles out tea, poetry, and tough love. Readers longing for an idyllic escape will appreciate this breezy contemporary. Agent: Alyssa Eisner Henkin, Trident Media Group. (June)
