LOCAL WOMAN CAUGHT STARING AT MYSTERIOUS STRANGER. REFUSES TO EXPLAIN WHY.

Dannica Chester has spent twenty-seven years narrating her own life in headlines nobody asked for — mostly because everyone in Boudica Springs already thinks they know her story: hometown girl, family diner, big dreams she never quite chases. So when six-foot-something of broody, camera-toting trouble walks in and orders a cheeseburger like it's a personal dare, she is absolutely not going to fall for him.

She's also absolutely going to fall for him.

Teddy Rowlins came to town to remember why he ever picked up a camera in the first place — not to fall for a mouthy waitress with a talent for turning everyone's business into breaking news. But between one accidental masquerade kiss, one extremely fake mugging, and an entire town convinced they're already engaged, staying uninvolved stops being an option fast.

With her best friends running a matchmaking scheme they insist isn't a scheme and a grandmother who built a diner out of grit and one very effective look, Dannica has to decide what happens when the story she's been avoiding is actually her own.

(genres: contemporary romance, small town)
(services provided: developmental editing)