What do horny stray mutts, ex-boyfriends and a dead grandmother all have in common?When it comes to love, they all have Lizzie—aspiring romance novelist—beat.

Lizzie has a terrible habit of losing things—the people she loves, jobs, even hope. After a humiliating run-in involving soaked tampons and a handsome, cocky stranger, she begins to wonder if she’s also lost control over her life.

That is, before the reading of her grandmother’s will lands her not only an unexpected inheritance, but also the keys to her family’s long-forgotten lake cabin up north in Dearing Creek. It’s her chance for a desperately needed fresh start, in the small town that changed her life more than a decade ago. But it’ll take everything in her to keep her focus on writing, and off the sexy contractor she’s hired to make this cabin her home—every day, she only seems to fall harder.

James grew up with soul-crushing loss, the kind that leaves scars. When a messy scandal in his small town sets the gears in motion to start his own remodeling business, it’s the opportunity he’s been waiting for. The fact that his first client is both the formerly awkward girl next door and the gorgeous woman he crashed into a few weeks prior is the plot twist he never saw coming. Nor can he stop his attraction to her from tearing down the walls surrounding his heart.

When a long-buried secret threatens to destroy everything they’ve built, the two must choose whether to face their past demons and current fears together… or say goodbye to their chance at a happily-ever-after.