A Very Crowded House

Book excerpt: A catastrophe forces Jocelyn Durand, the author of a decades-old and quite accidental publishing one-hit-wonder, to meet her idol, best-selling suspense writer Asher Cray. Each harbors a literary crush on the other, but if gossip rags are to be believed, Asher is a philandering charmer and more than the naïve Jocelyn could ever hope to handle. Still, while social media has labeled him a notorious Lothario, they might have the story all wrong. Regardless, those rumors are the least of Asher's worries compared to the horrific case of writer's block hounding him. Sparks fly between the two would-be wordsmiths, but uprooted nightmarish memories and a revolving door of uninvited visitors create plot twists no one sees coming, threatening the pairs' less-than-storybook romance and upending the Durand siblings' long-held beliefs. Happily-ever-after means the insulated Jocelyn and her stalwart sister must confront a wiped-away past, recognizing monsters come in unexpected forms, and maybe they aren't all bad—a daunting task one wickedly hot Hamptons summer in a very crowded house when everyone's personal histories blur the lines between fact and fiction. Kelly Elizabeth Huston’s sophomore book takes a darker turn while keeping up with some familiar faces and introducing new ones in a roller coaster story about the power of love and what people do in its name.