Finders keepers

A "seltzer magnate" bequeaths the treasure buried somewhere on his property to whoever can find it, kicking off the romance and adventure at the heart of this darling outing from Adler (Happy Medium). As teenagers, neighbors Nina Hunnicutt and Quentin Bell saw their friendship come to an abrupt end when they were caught by police searching for this storied bounty. Now college professor Nina, newly single and out of work, returns to her parents' home in Catoctin, Md., and discovers that Quentin is still living next door. Both between jobs, they agree to resume their search for the missing treasure. As they fall back into their childhood practice of calling out to each other through the windows of their adjoined duplexes, the pair reevaluate their past misunderstandings while discovering their newfound mutual attraction. Still, Nina is leery of a relationship with Quentin since neither knows where their career paths will take them or how romance will figure into those plans. The couple's childhood reminiscences make the depth of their connection clear, while the treasure hunt provides plenty of humor and hijinks. Rom-com fans will adore this. Agent: Taylor Haggerty, Root Literary. (June)

Nina Hunnicutt--newly single, unemployed, and frustrated with her love life and career prospects--is staying with her parents in small-town Maryland while she figures out her next steps. Complicating matters, Quentin Bell, her one-time next-door neighbor and former best friend, is also back for the summer after ending things with his fiancée. Nina and Quentin haven't spoken for 17 years, ever since a they spent a disastrous night searching for an eccentric local seltzer mogul's hidden treasure, an event that abruptly destroyed both their friendship and Nina's budding crush on Quentin. Now Quentin wants to keep searching for the treasure, which has never been found. They renew their search, and Nina is determined to focus on the hunt for the treasure and get back to her old life, but as they find their way back to their friendship and the feelings that have been under the surface all along, she begins to wonder if her old life, or a life with Quentin, is what she truly wants. VERDICT Adler (Happy Medium) mixes witty banter and well-drawn characters with her signature heart and humor to bring Nina and Quentin's story to a satisfying resolution in her best novel to date.--Whitney Kramer