Rom-com readers will fall in love with Becca Kinzer's delightfully sweet first novel, Dear Henry, Love Edith. Edith Sherman is a recently widowed, 30-year-old nurse from Pittsburgh, Pa. Her short marriage was rife with problems and, now that her husband is gone, his brother, Steve, has become extremely overbearing. In order to get on with life and escape Steve's suffocating attention, Edith signs up to do volunteer work. While waiting to "fly halfway around the world to a remote South African village," Edith takes an interim nursing position at a crisis center in the small town of Westshire, Ill. A friend of a friend generously offers the home of her uncle: Henry Hobbes is a set-in-his ways bachelor. He recently took over his family's construction and painting business but badly injured his knee. Thus, the temporarily inaccessible upper floor of his house becomes Edith's provisional home for a few weeks.
Henry and Edith never meet or see each other. They come and go, working different schedules, and each leaving notes for the other that gradually reveal who they are and the story of their lives. Unbeknownst to both of them, they regularly cross paths in town and are attracted to each other--although completely unaware they are actually living under the same roof. Exactly how and when will they finally come to this revelation? This bright, whimsical, mistaken-identity story of two lovable characters will win the hearts of rom-com readers who enjoy quirky, small-town charm. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines