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Myra Sommers, an attractive young copy editor living in Philadelphia, makes the tough decision to return to her family home in Nyssa, Oregon. A recent death leaves her with no remaining family, and she decides to heal and regroup there. Her decision to leave is solidified by recent revelations involving her cheating ex-boyfriend, Trent.

Myra parts ways with her only friend, Susie O’Connor, a zany woman who’s more than a little insane. In Nyssa, Myra finds little immediate comfort in her “new” home which is literally falling apart around her. She sinks into a deep depression, exacerbated by her feelings of loneliness and isolation in the small town.

News of Myra’s return takes no time to spread through Nyssa, and she quickly encounters several locals, some friendly, some not. Among the friendly faces is Jim, an elderly neighbor whom she begins to rely on for help and companionship. When she realizes that she’s going to have to hire someone to do repairs on her broken-down home, Jim gives her the name of a local contractor, Dylan Lawson, who has done work for him in the past.

When Myra calls Dylan for an estimate, she’s astounded by the contractor’s gruff, surly demeanor. But she trusts Jim and there are few other options in the small town.

Dylan can’t help but notice that Myra is young, single, and beautiful, which makes him suspicious of her real reason for calling him. The women in Nyssa pursue him relentlessly but he’s not in the least bit interested.

After Myra approves his estimate, Dylan begins the process of repairing her home. While he works, she begins writing a book; that is, when she’s not fielding insane calls from Susie who misses her like crazy.

Slowly, a reluctant friendship develops between the pair, followed by romantic feelings which neither of them can fight. However, their painful past experiences threaten to tear them apart. Can they move beyond their despair and open their hearts to love?

Tammy's Rating:
4 out of 5 Stars

Tammy's Review:
When Madeline and I emailed back and forth about her book, I would say she nailed it right on the head….

“Dylan is definitely an alpha male. And trust me, you will want to murder the man on more than one occasion.”

No joke, this man rubbed my nerves raw! BUT, what Madeline doesn’t say in that email and what I had to find out for myself was you grow to love Dylan real fast. I found that while he got on every last waking nerve with him being a complete ass all the time, he also has such a sweet protective side. It didn’t take him long to fall for Myra and become possessive.

Dylan, boy oh boy was Dylan one big ole jerk with a tragic past and that is putting it nicely.  He is not very fond of the female species and isn’t the least bit afraid to show his disdain for them.  Dylan isn’t fooled he knows all they want him for is his body.  Well who can blame them, I mean come on….hot damaged alpha contractor.  Sounds like a man right up my alley. I would break things in my house too just to get him to come fix it.   Dylan knows he is messed up, the entire book alludes to something major that happened in his past that has made him pull away from reality and life.

“So he’s hot and angry?”

Myra is our heroine, I can honestly say that up until close to the end of the book I did not connect real well with her.  I liked her well enough but she didn’t really move me. Not the way Susie or Dylan did. I felt bad that she suffered so much loss, and that she had an ex who did her wrong and couldn’t take the word no.  She seemed so depressed and withdrawn. But she grew on me, each encounter she had with Dylan helped her to open up and allowed me to connect with her.  I loved that towards the end of the book our heroine was patient with our hero even though she had no real reason to be.

Now, I was wicked jealous of Myra not only for her relationship with Dylan, but also for her best friend Susie! She was a fricken riot! She has the no filter between the brain and mouth syndrome. I never knew what the heck was going to come flying out of her mouth. She was fierce and she was loyal. I think that actually enjoyed her a bit more than our heroine. Maybe because she reminds me a lot of myself.

“Because, Myra, I swear to God, I’ll cut that bitch and I mean it.” “Well not really because you know I’m a total chicken shit, but I’ll cut her with my words, by golly. I’ll slay that bitch verbally with my fiendish tongue.”

I liked Dylan and Myra together. Their relationship was a slow build up. Cautious like, but when they finally reached that point it was hot.  Myra is an open book. Dylan not so much.

“I just, I wish I could tell you everything, But I can’t. I’m kind of fucked-up that way. But just know I’m single and….” “I’ll try to talk to you about all the shit that happened at some point, alright?”

But it worked for them in this book for a bit. Well until Dylan’s past hits them both square in the face. Unfortunately his past is not entwines with Myra’s past in a sense so her first instinct is to run, and this is where Madeline got cruel. She left me hanging!

I want to know what will happen between Dylan and Myra. I want to know what in the heck is in her house that makes it sound like someone is walking around, and knocking things over. I also want to see more of Susie.  Madeline you have left me wanting book 2 like now..:)!! Thank you for sharing your story with me.