A Novel Love Story

Eileen "Elsy" Merriweather loves to get lost in a good happily ever after. The fictional kind, anyway. Because at least imaginary men don't leave you at the altar. She feels safe in stories. At home in books. Which might be why she's so set on going to her book club's annual retreat this year - she needs good friends, cheap wine, and grand romantic gestures - no matter what. When her car unexpectedly breaks down on the way, she finds herself stranded in a quaint town that seems like it's right out of a novel.... Because it is. This place can't be real, and yet ... she's here, in Eloraton, the town from her favorite romance series, where the candy store's honey taffy is always sweet, the local bar's burgers are always a little burnt, and rain always comes in the afternoon. It feels like home. It's perfect - and perfectly frozen, trapped in the late author's last, unfinished story. Elsy is sure that must be why she's here : to help bring the town to its storybook ending. Except there is a character in Eloraton whom she can't place - a grumpy bookstore owner with mint-green eyes, an irritatingly sexy mouth, and impeccable taste in novels. And he does not want her finishing this book. Which is a problem, because Elsy is beginning to think the town's happily ever after just might be intertwined with her own.