A Week from Sunday

August 13, 2007
On the day her father is buried, 21-year-old Adrianna Moore learns that he left the family fortune under the control of Richard Pope, his attorney and partner who has lusted after Adrianna for years. Pope informs Adrianna that she’ll get her money, but not how she thought: she must marry him in a week. Adrianna, wanting nothing to do with Richard, runs, but her flight ends when her car collides with a truck in rural Louisiana. The truck’s driver is Quinn Baxter, a brawny tavern owner. A deal is struck: while Adrianna’s car is being repaired, she’ll play piano in Quinn’s bar to make good for the damage done to his truck. Adrianna will also help out with Quinn’s teenage handicapped brother. To do this, she has to bypass Lola Oxnard, a slovenly Cajun housekeeper with a violent bent who’s determined to marry Quinn. As Adrianna and Quinn fall in love, Richard and Lola close in. The mawkish love story is as extreme as the plots hatched by the vile lawyer and the scheming backwoods gold digger, but Garlock’s many readers will be satisfied by the triumph of good and love over evil and greed.

October 1, 2007
Suddenly, Adrianna, the rich and pampered 25-year-old daughter of a banker, is orphaned. Her fathers odious attorney, Richard, informs her that hecontrols the entire fortune and that she will marry him a week from Sunday. Adriannaflees to an aunt in Mississippi but in a severe rainstorm manages to crash into a truck driven by Quinn Baxter, who becomes inordinately angry. Most of the truckload of booze he was taking to his tavern was broken, and his piano player, Gabe, has been injured in the collision. Quinn demands restitution. Since Adrianna will have to stayin Lees Point until her car is repaired, and since she can play the piano, she will have to perform at the Whipsaw until Gabe recovers.Adrianna moves into the home Quinn shares with his teenage brother Jesse, who was crippled in a school-bus accident, and housekeeper Lola, who has definite designs on Quinn and will stop at nothing to get him. Garlock vividly evokes 1930s America while creating a compelling story and finely drawn characters.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)