The bad boy and the golden girl have traded places….I’m back in Harvest Hollow after ten years to prove a point and to even a few scores. I’ve opened a new bar, and anyone expecting the old sweet and shy Jolie McGraw to be running it is in for a shock. I’m not the only one who’s changed: when the sheriff comes to tell me I’m the prime suspect in the most ridiculous crime in town history, it’s none other than Lucas Cole, the former star of my teenage stress dreams, wearing the badge.

It's no secret that I love life. And Dr. Pepper. But also, I love a challenge. So when the coach of the Chicago Comets gives me the opportunity to help their star player, newly traded to their team, acclimate to life in Chicago, I'm all in. I have to be. After my last job went up in flames, I have something to prove. It turns out that the player, Grayson Hawke, is the rudest, most off-putting, reclusive guy I've ever met. It also turns out that he is the beautiful stranger I kissed on New Year's Eve.

Apparently, conservative Midwestern voters want more than my brains, connections, and good looks to vote me in as a congressman. That's right, to appear as the all-American family man they want . . . I need a wife. ASAP. The lovely Odette Hastings seems to fit the bill. She's a wholesome small-town girl, and conveniently in need of cash. I'll give her the money to take care of her elderly parents, and she'll be the political arm candy I need. We both win, right? The only problem is Odette is a little too beautiful, a little too intelligent, and way too distracting.

Three years ago, I fell truly, madly, deeply in love. It was kind of hard not to when Cash Denton, the sexiest man alive, literally ran into me on the streets of Bordeaux, France, and kissed me. Best. Meet. Cute. Ever. That led to the best two months of my life. Or . . . so I thought, until Cash disappeared into thin air. At first, I assumed he was in a coma or had amnesia after a tragic accident, since there’s no way he would have left me. But that was just wishful thinking because, you guessed it, he ghosted me with a capital G.

Falling in love is easy. Finding the right guy to spend happily ever after with... that's the hard part. But I have a foolproof plan. I'm taking the tropes that work in romance books and applying them to my love life. Only one bed? Never fails. Caring for someone when they're sick? A classic. Who did this to you? Seals the deal every single time. So long, loneliness. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. But the more I try to force romance, the more feelings naturally progress with the one man who's off limits: Walker Collins, the guy I've had a secret crush on since 7th grade.