Charming Grace

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"Deborah Smith's novels are filled to the brim with wonderful characters, complex and rich emotions, tragedy and hope." -- Romantic Times Her Harvard-student son just eloped with the First Daughter. CNN is parked on the road to her apple orchards. Secret Service agents have commandeered her country kitchen. The irate First Parents are threatening to have her taxes audited. The President's handsome, tough, ex-military nephew is setting up camp in her guest room. Hush McGillan's quiet Appalachian world of heirloom apples, country festivals, and carefully guarded family secrets has just been flipped like one of her famous Sweet Hush Apple Turnovers. What do you do when your brand-new in-laws are the First Family, and they don't like you any more than you like them? And what happens next when you find yourself falling in love with the man they sent to unearth all your secrets? From the White House to the apple house, from humor to tears and sorrow to laughter, get ready to fall in love with Sweet Hush. Optioned for Disney Films by the producer of The Princess Diaries. Deborah Smith is the New York Times bestselling author of A Place To Call Home, The Crossroads Cafe, A Gentle Rain and many others. Visit her at www.bellebooks.com and www.deborah-smith.com

### From Publishers Weekly

Smith's beguiling brand of Southern contemporary romance (Sweet Hush, etc.) takes a satirical turn in her ninth novel. When Schwarzeneggeresque action star Stone Senterra arrives in Dahlonega, Ga., the only thing standing in the way of his making a film about real-life local hero Harper Vance is Vance's exâ€"beauty queen widow armed with a truckload of gravel, a potted orchid named "Dancer" and a will of steel. Charming Grace stops at nothing to ensure that her husband's memory does not become fodder for yet another bad movie. Having defied her wealthy father to befriend and then marry the backwoods bad boy turned GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) agent, she is more than ready to face down Hollywood. What she isn't prepared for are the feelings aroused by Senterra's troubleshooting bodyguard, Cajun-born ex-con Boone Noleene, like Vance a gallant-hearted tough guy and like Senterra abandoned by his father at an early age. The novel alternates points of view: first we hear from the rebel belle, then from the brash bodyguard. The battling duo are backed up by a larger-than-life cast of secondary characters, including Senterra's baby sister co-star, Diamond, voted sexiest movie babe by Gun and Knife magazine, and Senterra's son the computer geek, who falls for Grace's black niece from Detroit. Smith blends Southern charm and Hollywood brass, kicking up the satire with Stone's script notes, full of cliches, paranoia and celluloid-deep emotion. Her unflagging energy, forgiving spirit and mischievous imagination compel the reader to delight with her in the frailty of heroes on-screen and off, proving that Smith is one romance novelist who just keeps getting better.
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### From Booklist

*Starred Review* Grace Bagshaw Vance will do whatever it takes to stop Stone Senterra. One of Hollywood's most popular action/adventure stars, Senterra wants to direct a film based on the life of Grace's late husband, Harp, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent who was killed stopping the Turn-Key Bomber. Grace, however, is certain Senterra's brand of mindless, testosterone-drenched movies will disgrace Harp's memory. Armed with a shotgun and a load of gravel, Grace concocts a plan to put a halt to the production only to find herself up against Boone Noleene, Senterra's intensely loyal bodyguard. While they first seem to be on opposite sides, both Grace and Boone soon find they have quite a bit in common, something that worries Grace since the more she finds herself getting to know Boone, the more it seems she is letting go of her beloved Harp. Writing with an easy charm and sassy wit, Smith deftly fashions a splendid story of love and honor. Blessed with an abundance of delightfully eccentric characters and a plot that gracefully moves between past and present, this is a romance to treasure. *John Charles*
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