Hazel Hart was a successful romance novelist until a breakup drives her straight into writerâs block. Having failed (and failed some more) to deliver her new manuscript, sheâs hiding from the world behind a wall of old takeout containers until her publisher lays down the law. If she misses her next deadline itâs The End.
Desperate for inspiration, Hazel impulse-buys a historic home online and flees Manhattan to tiny Story Lake, PA. Upon her dramatic arrivalâinvolving an incident with a bald eagleâshe discovers the charm of her new home may have been slightly exaggerated.
The house is a wreck and the town is struggling after their biggest employer shut down. Also, since her raccoon-infested home came with a seat on the town council our introverted heroine is stuck with a front row seat to all the small-town shenanigans.
But Hazel isnât worried. Not since all six-feet-three inches of grouchy contractor Campbell Bishop slapped a bandage on her forehead and unintentionally inspired the heck out of her. Thereâs only one thing to do: Hire Cam and his equally gorgeous brothers to renovate her new spider museumâŠerâŠhouse.
Okay two things. A fake date for âresearch purposesâ will really put her work-in-progress on track. Before Hazel knows it, sheâs writing a romance novel and living one. At least until the drywall dust settles, the town sheâs falling in love with faces bankruptcy, and growly Cam remembers why he canât live happily ever after.
Why You Should Read This Book
Tropes
Trigger Warnings
Story of My Life
âIf youâre looking for poetry and romance, youâre with the wrong guy.â
âOh my god. Your mother just texted the group and said, âYour brotherâs always in a better mood when heâs sexually satisfied.â Now all your siblings are sending vomit emojis.â
âHazel, Iâm trying to not want to rip off your clothes and break in your couch with sex that youâre not ready for. Okay?â
âYouâre damn right we are. And we could have been fucked-up together.â
âWe fucked each other in the back seat of a pickup truck in a parking lot, and you want to talk about the sewage plant?â
âThe whole town knows we belong together. I know it now too. And Iâm not letting you go.â
âI thought Iâd work my way up to a grand gesture. But itâs tough with you dating every single man in town.â
âIt was a onetime thing. I took her out on a fake date for research purposes. It was her idea. I was just being nice.â
âYou narcissistic ass clown.â
âYouâre the worst. Iâm mad at you, in case you forgot. I wouldnât get naked with you again if you were the last big-dicked man on the planet.â
âOh my God. Are you seriously sitting here thinking that the sex was so good Iâm automatically going to demand a committed relationship with you?â
âI write romance all day long. What I need is a man who isnât going to throw a temper tantrum every time I do something he doesnât appreciate.â
âYou donât get to unpack all this emotional baggage and trauma that youâve been carting around since probably childhood that has nothing to do with me and then use it against me.â
âYou donât have to unpack my books. That seems more like a boyfriend job than a no-strings-sex partner job.â
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