Right from the start, it's clear that Merullo's latest novel (after In Revere, in Those Days) is about loss and grief, with lighthearted moments: "My year of mourning was over, and I decided to mark the anniversary by treating myself to a doughnut." This bittersweet love story rises above its overwrought two-hankie potential with compassion for its characters. Jake Entwhistle, a 30-year-old carpenter, risks reentering the dating scene by asking out the woman who smashed his truck outside the doughnut shop. Janet Rossi is 27, beautiful, smart-an aide to the governor-and dying of cystic fibrosis. Despite their individual baggage and Jake's goofy nervousness, they feel an immediate connection. The novel chronicles the next three months, as Janet's health declines and every wet, choking breath is an exercise in courage. While it's improbable that Jake would suffer two tragedies like this, it's not distracting, and the overall impression is one of great love and intimacy. Recommended for most public libraries.-Christine Perkins, Burlington P.L., WA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

There is nothing little about this love story. It is big and heroic and beautiful and tragic. It is the story of life and death and demons and ghosts, told by a man mourning the death of his first lover, and finding himself improbably attracted to a woman who is, herself, dying. After meeting literally by accident, Jake and Janet's first date is notable for his quirky, nervous humor and her persistent, wracking cough, caused by the cystic fibrosis that has reached its end stage. Such obstacles, however, don't prevent them from falling profoundly and helplessly in love. As Janet approaches her final days, Jake's plans to ensure they have a future together are nothing short of Herculean. Writing with serene passion and gentle humor, Merullo powerfully reveals both the resiliency and fragility of life and love, yet he has done himself a great disservice by giving his sumptuous novel such a simple title, for readers may erroneously assume it's a piece of fluff. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is not a little love story. It is, quite utterly, grand. --Carol Haggas Copyright 2005 Booklist

Merullo, author of the Revere Beach series, starts out with a hoary cliche: Jake Entwhistle, on the one-year anniversary of his girlfriend's death, goes out for a doughnut, and his '49 Dodge truck gets smashed in the parking lot by cowboy-booted, 27-year-old Janet Rossi. Chemistry wins out over a series of first-date pratfalls, and Entwhistle, a handsome, successful painter, finds himself smitten. Rossi, however, has cystic fibrosis, and Merullo does his best work in the deceptively lighthearted chapters that follow the lovers trying to shed their romantic baggage on top of dealing with Rossi's illness. Entwhistle must overcome his jealousy over Rossi's affair with the governor of Massachusetts (she's still his aide), and he must also finally mourn the late Giselle (an attendant on the flight that went down in Pennsylvania on 9/11). Rossi's debilitating disease quickly sends her into a tailspin; Jake tries to pull together lung donors and a "psycho-genius" doctor for an operation that could save Rossi's life. Merullo counters the cardboard morbidity and overdetermined incidentals with considerable emotional depth, making this a solid romance. (On sale Aug. 9) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved