Ridge’s deafness doesn’t impede their relationship or their music. She finds out after the fact that Ridge already has a long-distance girlfriend, Maggie-and that he's deaf. The two begin a songwriting partnership that grows into something more once Sydney dumps Hunter and decides to crash with Ridge and his two roommates while she gets back on her feet. While music student Sydney is watching her neighbor Ridge play guitar on his balcony across the courtyard, Ridge is watching Sydney’s boyfriend, Hunter, secretly make out with her best friend on her balcony. Hoover is a master at writing scenes from dual perspectives. Sydney and Ridge make beautiful music together in a love triangle written by Hoover ( Losing Hope, 2013, etc.), with a link to a digital soundtrack by American Idol contestant Griffin Peterson. Whether or not they think of themselves as bookish, readers of all stripes will enjoy cycling through these characters’ lives and discovering their shared, mysterious past.

She has a knack for dramatic revelation that feels natural, possibly because she is so skilled at knowing what to leave out. There is momentum in the juxtaposition of Ava's and Maggie’s circumstances, one improving incrementally, one devolving steadily, into which the spice of intrigue is added: what were the circumstances of Ava’s sister’s death? What of her mother’s? Why is Maggie the way she is? And what does Ava’s little-known book pick-the book that matters most to her-have to do with all of it? Hood occasionally adds a slurry of unnecessary exposition but is more often able to limn fundamental character truths via well-placed details. Meanwhile, Ava’s problem child, Maggie, continues running with the wrong crowd when she abandons her study-abroad semester in Italy to haunt Paris, where she slips willingly into heroin addiction. It's somewhat suspect, but forgivable, that all the members save Ava choose well-regarded classics, but Hood ( An Italian Wife, 2014, etc.) handles it with a light touch. So much so that she's a refreshingly cranky, reticent participant in the club, whose theme for the year is “The Book That Matters Most” to each member. Instead, it's because her husband of 25 years has left her for another woman, and Ava is bitter and lonely. When Ava North joins her best friend’s long-running book club in Providence, Rhode Island, it is not to find solace from the long-ago deaths of her little sister and mother. A mother and a daughter seek balance in their broken lives while books provide them with comfort, clarity, and clues to a mystery.

The book that matters most