DEBUT A woman has to separate fact from fiction if she wants to recover what she's lost. Cara and Brendan meet when she's just out of college. Brendan is charming and funny, and she falls fast and hard for him. And at first it's good. They marry and have a son, and if there are moments when Brendan's behavior seems a little strange, Cara believes in him—even when he tells her he's been part of a U.S. Special Forces team and the subject of top-secret experiments that allow him to breathe underwater for long periods of time. She knows it sounds far-fetched, but she's seen him do it. She believes that until the day he and their baby son, Micah, disappear. Five years later Cara has rebuilt her life, but she still holds out hope her son can be found. When she hears of a sighting of a man and a child at sea, she's convinced it's Brendan and Micah and will now do all she can to find them. VERDICT Fedor's moody debut explores the depths of love a person can feel and the toll that grief and mental illness might take on those emotions. For readers of Diane Chamberlain and Sally Hepworth.—Jane Jorgenson

In Berg's Earth's the Right Place for Love, a stand-alone connected to her popular Truluv series, Arthur tries to contain his crush on gorgeous Nola McCollum (who's crushing on his older brother) while steering clear of his violent war-veteran dad; then tragedy upends his family. In debuter Brown's Black Candle Women, three generations of Montrose women must carefully tell sparkling young teenager Nickie that a curse delivered decades ago by a New Orleans vodou sorceress means that anyone she falls in love with will die. In Fedor's debut, Carla is shattered when the man she loves disappears with their baby but heartened years later when a man and child are spotted At Sea calmly treading water—Brandon claimed to be part of a U.S. Special Forces experiment that allowed him to stay longer than humanly possible beneath the waves. Puerto Rican sisters living on Staten Island, Jessica and Nina may finally learn What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez, their long-lost little sister, when Jessica spots a look-alike on a reality TV show; from debuter Jimenez, the winner of multiple honors for her story collection Staten Island Stories. In standup comedian Langbein's debut, Hollywood hacks are trying to turn the androgynous, eco-crusading protagonist of Penelope Schleeman's feminist novel American Mermaid into a vampy teen, and creepy things (e.g., threats suddenly materializing in the script) are starting to happen. Following Napolitano's New York Times best-selling Dear Edward, Hello Beautiful features reserved William, who's hamstrung by his upbringing in a household shadowed by tragedy but lucky enough to have found effervescent Julia and gained her sisters' seal of approval—until trouble from his past threatens the relationship. From award-winning poet/novelist Novey (Ways To Disappear), Take What You Need returns Leah to the Appalachian home of her recently deceased stepmother Jean, from whom she had been estranged and who has left her with some surprises. Steel's Worthy Opponents pits Spencer Brooke, now owner of her family's luxury department store in New York and a divorced mother of twins, against overeager investor Mike Weston.

A young woman falls in love with a fishlike man in Fedor's mesmerizing fantastical debut. Unable to find a job or internship after college, Cara stays at her aunt and uncle's house on Martha's Vineyard, a haven with fond memories of summers with her now-deceased mother. She meets Brendan, a member of the Army's Special Forces, who reveals that his superhuman ability to stay underwater for long periods of time is the result of gill-like enhancements made by the military. Though Brendan's mood swings and abrupt disappearances are concerning, Cara falls for him and abandons her plans to move in with a friend in New York City. After getting pregnant with Brendan and giving birth to their son Micah, Cara stays with Brendan until he and Micah abruptly disappear. Five years later, Cara is still living on Martha's Vineyard and married to Graham, a comparatively stable guy whose "style is based entirely on comfort and practicality." Still, she never gives up hope that she will find Micah, especially after a local fisherman says he saw a man and a boy swimming together far out in the ocean, and when she runs into Brendan at her art gallery. Fedor's neatly plotted narrative keeps the pages turning, and Cara's emotional pull toward her lost family makes the far-fetched conceit feel believable. This sparkling debut will hook readers. Agent: Wendy Sherman, Wendy Sherman Assoc. (Mar.)