After yet another spectacular life failure, Leah Sullivan comes back to Lucky Harbor to help her grandmother and embroils herself in a pretend relationship with her best friend that she wishes more than anything could be real. Leah spent a miserable childhood listening to her father tell her she'd never amount to anything, so why is anyone surprised that she's lived down to his expectations? She knows she's a screw-up, and she'd be so happy, thank you very much, if everyone would stop trying to convince her that she can do something with her life or that she just might be worth loving. Then there's firefighter Jack Harper, the best friend she's always loved but isn't going to risk hurting, again, because she can't be depended on for anything. So why she decides to try to cheer his ailing mother up by announcing the two of them are a couple--when they definitely aren't--she'll never know. Perhaps it's wishful thinking. But when the white lie takes on a life of its own, Jack and Leah have a real challenge on their hands. Attraction between them has never been a problem, and being forced to spend time together to keep up appearances is like setting a match to a mountainside of dry brush. Frankly, Lucky Harbor has enough fires going on, what with a serial arsonist on the loose. Jack finds the investigation a welcome distraction from dealing with Leah, the girl who broke his teenage heart. He knows her better than anyone, and the second he makes her feel like he wants her for good is the second she'll turn and run. Shalvis pens a best-friends-to-lovers winner with Leah, a wounded, deer-in-headlights heroine who must first believe she is worthy of love before she can accept the devotion of hunky Jack, the hero who can have any woman in the world but chooses her--and would do anything to help her save herself. A sexy, textured winner.]]]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Talented pastry chef Leah Sullivan returns to Lucky Harbor to help her grandmother, who has just had knee surgery, run her bakery. But Leah guards a secret the reality cooking show the townspeople are so proud she's on doesn't end well, and she knows when they see how badly she bombed, everyone will be disappointed. In the meantime, her best friend, sexy firefighter Jack Harper, has a seriously ill mother, Dee. Leah has known Dee since childhood, and to cheer her up, Leah tells her that she and Jack are together. Because of his mother's condition, Jack reluctantly goes along with the charade. As Leah waits for her embarrassing cooking-show episode to air and for Dee and her grandmother to get better, her engagement to Jack starts to seem real. Shalvis (At Last, 2012, and Forever and a Day, 2012) adds another steamy, sassy episode to her popular Lucky Harbor series, and lovers of contemporary romance will be so glad she did.--Mosley, Shelley Copyright 2010 Booklist

In the charming and engaging eighth Lucky Harbor contemporary (after It Had to Be You), Leah Sullivan, full of secrets and longing for love, returns to the Pacific Northwest town to help her aging grandmother run her pastry shop. Leah is easing back into normal life after a stressful run on a popular baking reality show. Her best friend, Jack Harper, a well-liked local firefighter dealing with suspicious fires around town, has mixed emotions about seeing Leah again. When Dee, Jack's ill mother, voices her concern over Jack's future, Leah recklessly claims that she and Jack are an item. As the fib makes its way around town, Leah and Jack begin to act the part and wonder how life might be if it were real. Shalvis's fans will devour the two friends' introspective and passionate journey to love. Agent: Jenny Bent, Bent Agency. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.