Storybook Ending

Seattle Times critic Macdonald debuts with a lively tale of three dissatisfied people linked by a Seattle bookstore. April, single at 33, laments the isolation of working from home for her tech job. She decides to leave a note for her crush in a book at the bookstore where he works, reasoning that “you just have to throw something out into the world and see what happens.” Westley, the bookseller, is oblivious to April, and though he loves the store, he feels destined for bigger and better things. During a movie shoot in the store, he throws himself into his role as a background character. In a comedy of errors, 40-ish widowed single mother Laura, a fashion consultant, finds April’s note in a book Westley sells her and thinks it’s for her, and that he was its author. Neither April nor Laura knows Westley’s name, and the trio’s continued correspondence yields a series of false starts and humorous twists. Macdonald shades in the details of her protagonists’ lives with colorful depictions of their friends and relatives, quirky coworkers, and awkward former lovers. It’s a diverting slice of life. Agent: Allison Hunter, Trellis Literary. (May)