In the novel Tom Lake, releasing on August 8, Ann Patchett tells a tale of a cherry farm family in the time of the pandemic in the spring of 2020. Lara and Joe’s three daughters have sought sanctuary on their North Michigan farm.

Since many of their usual cherry pickers are confined to where they live, Lara and Joe appreciate the help from Emily, Maisie, and Nell. As they pick cherries, Lara tells them the story of her turn as an actress, her experience in summer stock at Tom Lake, and her romance with famous actor Peter Duke.

Having heard bits and pieces all their lives, Emily once was positive Duke had been her father. Now she lives in the small house on the farm after finishing her degree in horticulture, planning to take over the farm when her parents retire. Her boyfriend Benny from the neighboring farm also pitches in even though there is plenty of apple picking to be done in his orchard.

Both Maisie and Nell returned for the safety of their farm when their colleges closed in March. Maisie is studying to be a veterinarian, and in the quarantine, she is called upon among her neighbors to care for their stock and their pets. Nell pursues drama, hoping to be an actress like her mother once was.

Told on two timelines, the author reveals the account of a young Lara and Duke, who meet doing Our Town in summer stock. Lara played the role of Emily in high school and college making her a natural choice when the original actress leaves for a better opportunity. In the pandemic story line, readers learn about the family dynamics of farm families, especially this close-knit family.

Lara keeps part of her story as an actress having a romance on set a secret from even her husband. Otherwise, Joe knows most of the story, helping to tell it here and there. The daughters gain much insight into a time in the couple’s life before their birth in this engaging narrative that only hints at the pandemic here and there. In a surprise visit from someone in her acting past, a big reveal is made to Lara in the ending of the novel.

Ann Patchett’s Dutch House was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Born in Los Angeles, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee, as a child and continues to live there where she and a partner own Parnassus Books, an independent bookstore.

Out of Nowhere by Sandra Brown

 If a book about a mass shooting that is also a sex-fueled thriller seems baffling, that is just what readers get in Sandra Brown’s latest, Out of Nowhere, available in August. The carnage occurs during a county fair in Texas where Elle Portman and  her two-year-old son Charlie are caught up in a logjam at the entrance/exit gate. Several people were shot, some fatally. One of the injured is Calder Hudson who is hit when he makes a flying leap to rescue Charlie whose stroller goes off course and starts to tip.

Some good police work turns up a dead shooter quickly, bringing some relief to the survivors. However, when the forensic evidence does not fully support the early findings, the detectives question Elle and Calder along with three other survivors over and over, leaving them emotionally bereft. 

Adding to the confusion, the pressure from news media for the latest tidbit, including Calder’s girlfriend, reporter Shauna Calloway, is overwhelming. A support group brings together some of the survivors including Elle and a woman named Dawn who was shot in the calf. While Elle refuses all interviews, Dawn Whitley is the first to give her story to Shauna. Calder refuses to let Shauna interview him or use his name to persuade other survivors to come forth with their perspective about the attack. Their relationship comes to a breaking point causing Calder to move out. 

The devastating circumstances of the shooting are hard to read as in any news media coverage of real mass killings. The drive to get justice for those who died is a uniting force between Elle, Calder, and Dawn. When Shauna irresponsibly reveals their names, authorities swoop in to secure the three in a safe house as already one has received a death threat. 

 

Bonded by tragedy, Elle and Calder cannot ignore a growing attraction between them, but the circumstances of their meeting make them question if being together would just be too painful to create a lasting relationship from the steamy one that has developed. When the killer finds Elle, Calder, and Dawn in the secure house, their grieving turns into a fight for survival. The twist of an ending is shocking when the killer who has been an unreliable narrator throughout is revealed.

Sandra Brown, whose first novel was published in 1981, has penned more than 70 novels. Known for romantic suspense and detailed sex scenes, she once tried her hand successfully with a book of historical fiction about the Great Depression, Rainwater (2009).  Brown, who lives in Texas, has seen four of her books adapted for film. 

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center

 Hello Stranger is the new reality for portrait artist Sadie Montgomery as she suffers from a side effect of brain surgery called prosopagnosia, or face blindness, a neurological disorder characterized by the inability to recognize faces, in the latest from Katherine Center that arrived on bookshelves July 11.

 

Sadie had just placed as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition when she was ready to celebrate and start her entry only to be shot down thanks to her brain scrambling the pieces of people’s faces. She only has a few weeks to start and finish a new portrait to enter into the contest that offers a huge prize. While face blindness may be only temporary, there are no guarantees that the faces she sees will clear up.

As if suffering face blindness was not enough of a challenge, Sadie faces other problems: major family issues thanks to an evil stepsister, the failing health of her dog Peanut who her late mother had given her, and an obsession with two men, one her handsome new vet and the other a neighbor in her art studio/apartment building.

As she struggles to create a portrait for the competition when she cannot even see her subject’s face any other way but in “pieces,” her end result  tends to look like something scrambled as in a Picasso painting, an entry the Portrait Society is not likely to favor. Because this is a contemporary romance, readers will get feel-good vibes as Sadie deals with life as a face-blind person juggling potential romances with two men whose faces she cannot see.

Katherine Center is the New York Times bestselling author of nine other books, including The Bodyguard, Things You Save in a Fire, and What You Wish For. Her book The Lost Husband was made into a Netflix movie, and Happiness for Beginners will air on Netflix starting July 27 starring Luke Grimes from the TV series “Yellowstone.” Center lives in her hometown of Houston, Texas, with her family.