SAVING GRACE

The perfect personal assistant can make even the most accomplished wife dispensable.

When Grace, a talented chef and assistant cookbook editor, meets legendary writer Ted Chapman, his notoriously mercurial attitude dissolves. A whirlwind romance leads to a seemingly ideal marriage, but beneath the surface, Ted’s unpredictable rages keep Grace walking on eggshells. Ellen, Ted’s longtime and efficient assistant, can usually keep Ted under control. So when Ellen leaves to care for her mother, Grace is anxious to find a replacement. Luckily, she meets Beth at a glitzy dinner. Fortified with stellar recommendations, Beth is surprisingly available to start immediately. She is, of course, too good to be true and quickly becomes indispensable, arranging Ted’s schedule, editing his work, keeping him out of Grace’s hair and even inspiring a character in his new book. As Beth’s star ascends, Grace’s begins to falter. A charity event she planned months in advance turns into a disaster, and someone—perhaps Grace herself?—may have sabotaged it. Worse, Grace seems fuzzier and more distracted each day, which prompts wild mood swings. She fears following in the footsteps of her mother, whose bipolar disorder tarnished Grace’s childhood, driving her to adopt her friend Catherine’s family as her own. Catherine’s mother, Lydia, taught Grace to cook, and Catherine’s twin brothers—handsome Robert and attentive Patrick—were Grace’s first love interests. Suspense builds and suspicions loom over Beth until Grace discovers a stunning secret, which sends her home to England and to Lydia. Her sanity, career and marriage all about to shatter, Grace seeks shelter and finds unexpected love. Grace must devise a plan to save herself and snare the culprit. A rather uncertain resolution suggests a sequel may be in the works.

Green (Tempting Fate, 2014, etc.) spins a dark romance, recalling All About Eve, where intimacy masks betrayal.