The Shadow of Your Smile

October 17, 2011
Warren—the award-winning author of more than 30novels—returns to Deep Haven for her latest effort. Snow covers the northern Minnesota town as Noelle and Eli Hueston discover that they are drifting apart. When Noelle loses her memory in a bizarre accident, her husband and sons must try to keep the fragile family together. As she tries to remember, secrets are revealed and hearts reconnected in unexpected ways as the couple face the demons that have been haunting them in the wake of their child Kelsey’s death three years earlier. Warren is at her best as she plumbs the human heart, revealing motives, feelings, and undercurrents. The past looms large in this book, and Warren handles well the many facets of lives intertwined by love, hope, and tragedy. This is a book of second chances for the Hueston family, for those who care about them, and for readers looking for clarity in their own lives.

November 15, 2011

After 25 years of marriage, things have gone sour. Noelle and Eli Hueston want to get their youngest son through his high school graduation so that they can divorce. But one snowy night, Noelle gets injured in a car accident that erases part of her memory. She doesn't remember her husband or children. When Noelle returns home, she struggles to recall an old life that is no longer hers. Can her amnesia give her and Eli the second chance they need? VERDICT Warren's fifth entry (after My Foolish Heart) in her popular romantic series is a warm and charming tale that features well-developed characters and a solid story line. Series fans and devotees of Judy Baer and Deborah Vogts will want to put holds on this title.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2011
Quiet yet powerful, like a blizzard in Deep Haven, Minnesota, Warren's latest inspirational novel is a story of hidden pain. When daughter Kelsey is murdered, the Hueston family breaks. Suffering is all they know until an accident causes Noelle to lose her memory. As her husband, Eli, and sons Kirby and Kyle help her rebuild her life, she gets reacquainted with her family and reclaims her past passions and youthful joy. Eli soon confronts his own coping methods, which involve another woman, Lee Nelson, whose husband was killed the same day as Kelsey. Emma Nelson was Kelsey's best friend. They dreamed of making music together, but Emma's songs now feel incomplete. A chance encounter with Kyle spurs Emma and him to believe their fates might not already be sealed. Like the spring thaw, Warren's novel is cold and hard at the outset, but as the story unfolds, characters with frozen hearts begin to revive. At the end, hope is in full bloom.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)