She came to a small town to write a love story, not accidentally star in one.

Audrey Quinn is a bestselling author who’s just been handed the worst assignment of her career: write a romance novel. Why? She has zero experience with love. When a looming deadline sends her spiraling, an invitation to house-sit for the summer in Alderbrook, Ontario, feels like a timely escape and the perfect place to find inspiration.

On her first day in town, she accidentally steals a coffee belonging to an attractive stranger — Mack Bennett. The easygoing bookseller is kind and funny, with an incredible smile. He’s even dreamier than the characters Audrey writes about. Still, love is the last thing she’s looking for, especially with the secrets she’s keeping and a past she’s not ready to unpack. But when he asks her out, Audrey makes a reckless decision. It’s the perfect opportunity for research. Just a few dates, strictly for the story.

Alderbrook has a way of getting under her skin, and so does Mack. As just-this-once turns into something real, Audrey finds herself falling for the town, her new friends, and the man who makes her feel braver than she’s ever been.

But Mack doesn't know that Audrey is a famous author writing under a secret name or that she’s only in town for the summer. So Audrey tries to handle the truth about her real life before it crashes into the one she’s built in Alderbrook.

And for the first time in her life, she can’t control how this story ends.