LUNCH TALES: TEAGAN

In Guarino’s romance novel, a woman is afraid to experience love again after tragedy strikes.

Teagan is an accountant, the mother of an adopted baby, and a wife—but when her husband, Mike, is struck by a car, her new identity as a widow supersedes the rest. Luckily, Teagan is surrounded by family and friends. Siblings Padrick, a police chief, and motherly Bridget are supportive, though bitter middle sister Colleen shows little sympathy. Work friends Suellen, Carol, and Lynne try to cheer Teagan up, dining in her office when she’s too depressed to make it to the lunchroom. Luke, a single dad and police officer who works under Padrick, also wants to be a friend. He’s present when Teagan gets the bad news about Mike, drives by when she gets cramps while running and needs a ride, and answers the call when Teagan needs help with a confused elderly lady she encounters. Luke and Teagan were intimate when they were in high school, but Teagan prefers to keep some emotional distance now; Jaden, her child, is enough to deal with, and she’s still grieving Mike. Teagan also doesn’t want to cause gossip in her small town. Nasty anonymous letters arrive in the mail, and they seem to be written by someone in her inner circle, making Teagan unsure of who to trust. Guarino’s female characters evince a warming sense of solidarity, and Teagan’s love for Jaden is sweet—she “laugh[s] tears of happiness” seeing him having fun, and will “go to any length for him.” But some compelling avenues of exploration remain unexplored—making Jaden biracial but ignoring the challenges this may present seems like a wasted opportunity, while the most complicated character, the villainous outlier Colleen, is ultimately dismissed as “a classic narcissist.” The setting of Caldwell, New Jersey is mostly peripheral, but the town’s small size may explain why Luke keeps popping up fortuitously in Teagan’s everyday life. Fans of steamy interludes will find their desires fulfilled as Teagan, “swathed in…manliness” experiences “sweetness and anticipation and fire” in several scenes.

Satisfying for those who believe in sisterhood and second chances.