Forty-seven broken jars. Sometimes the first step toward love is a stumble.
Harmony Lake, Minnesota, 1891—where a whisper at sunrise is old news by supper.
Josephine “Jo” Jensen makes the best jam and pie in the county and has never said out loud what she wants. The whole town assumes she’ll marry Gabe Hansen, who has never gone so far as to ask for the position. Jo would rather do almost anything than correct them.
Then her brother’s best friend comes home.
Timothy Trigg went to the city to learn photography, but returns humiliated. Before he even drags his trunks off the train, everyone knows he was left at the altar. He takes five steps and destroys forty-seven jars of Jo’s strawberry jam. He hasn’t got the money to repay her. So he takes her picture instead, and the photograph shows Harmony Lake a Jo no one has ever seen. Least of all Jo.
Being invisible was safe. Being seen is not.
From sunrise swims to summer fairs, horseback rides to country dances, Jo and Timothy give Harmony Lake more to talk about than it can hold. When the rumors turn dangerous, they strike a bargain that blurs the line between pretend and real.
Jo has spent nineteen years putting herself last. She has never once fought for something she wanted.
She’s about to.
Tropes you’ll love: jilted groom, slow burn, small-town gossip, hero falls first, brother’s best friend, forced proximity, fake engagement, competence romance.
