Castle: Pitbull vs. Hammer

There were so many awesome things about this episode of Castle.  Aww moments, funny moments, and light-up shoes for a start.

The show begins with some guy running down an alley and a car chasing him. He gets cornered and even though he tells the guy who gets out of the driver's seat that they can work it out, they really can't. Dun, dun, dun.

Cut to the loft where Kate is testing Alexis on definitions for an exam.  Alexis rushes out and Kate tells Castle that Alexis has a really great brain and will be a good lawyer. He says he loses enough arguments to her and then asks if Kate regrets not getting her law degree. Kate says she likes taking the bad guys down instead of getting them through the system. Then the call comes in about the murder.

When they get down there Castle is trying to get some details on Ryan and Espo's number for a policeman's event that they've won for the last two years. The boys aren't budging, though, and Castle is reduced to saying that if he had been allowed to participate, he would have killed it.  Lainey is there and giving them details about the victim when Castle recognizes him as Richie "The Pitbull" Falco, an ambulance chaser type lawyer.  Caskett go down to his office where there are a lot of people in the waiting room and talk to the secretary.  She said he'd been acting weird the last few days, but he cared about his clients. Apparently he was in that particular area of town the night before because there's a hospital up there where he trolls for customers.

Back at the morgue Lainey tries to get details out of the boys about their number, but she also has no luck.  She finally just tells them that their victim had been in the country because he had some pollen on his pant leg.  He'd also been tasered before he died, as in tortured. Ew.

Captain Gates interrupts the team going over the clues in the bullpen and says that Kimmel had to drop out of the police event so they need a celebrity for a draw and asks Castle to do it. He says on one condition---he can compete for the trophy. She agrees and there is so much smack talk going on between Espo and Castle it is FUNNY.  Castle volunteers Kate to do a number with him and WIN against the boys, (it is so ON!) but she's not thrilled at all that he didn't ask her.  Not to mention they don't have a number and the boys have been practicing for months.

Ryan gets some footage of Pitbull being pushed into a car and the license plate is registered to a NFL has-been. They pull him in for questioning, but it's a dead end and the guy just affirms that Pitbull was acting weird. The smack talk is ramping up about the competition between the team and the betting begins. If the boys win they want Castle's next book dedication to say they're smarter and more handsome than him. If Caskett wins, the boys will call him King for a month. Haha At first Caskett doesn't want to bet, but Espo calls Kate a chicken and makes chicken noises so it is accepted.

The next person they interview is the victim's ex-wife that Pitbull called before he died. She has no new info, just that Pitbull had a Harvard law degree, self-destructed with drinking, and they divorced. She hadn't heard from him in years.  The team gets called back to Pitbull's office that has been trashed and his files stolen. Ryan is at the diner where the NFL guy dropped Pitbull off and says the waitress remembered Pitbull having an argument there with his nemesis, Archie Bronstein, the Savannah Hammer. The Hammer says yeah he got into it with Pitbull over client poaching, especially an easy win of a girl who had three bits of metal shoot into her chest when she was hit by a truck.

Back at the law office they find a hidden panel with chloroform, alarm schematics, night vision goggles, and glow sticks that were recently used.  The goggles have a name of a PI on it so they question him and he says Pitbull asked him a bunch of questions and borrowed his goggles, but he didn't know much else. Oh, except he did ask about the best way to hide a body.  Which leads Tori to ping Pitbull's last phone call to see where he was and it was a forest outside of the city. Caskett go there and find the flowers the pollen on Pitbull's pants came from. And there's fresh dirt. They start digging and talk about how they snuck in to observe the interrogation room where the boys were practicing their number. It was good. Kate is worried about being a disaster in front of everyone and not being taken seriously.  Then they find the body bag. They pull it out and someone pulls a gun on them from behind. They're tied up and the body stolen. Castle says he saw on Youtube how to get out of zip ties by slamming your wrists into your behind. It takes a few tries, (and is funny to watch!) but it works. Haha.

Martha helps Rick and Kate work on a number, but when Castle goes to raise the stakes with Espo, Kate confides in Martha that she has terrible stage fright but doesn't want to let Castle down. Aww. Before it goes too far, though, Kimmel is back on the schedule as the celebrity and they are let off the hook. Kate is relieved.

A wildlife camera catches the body thief on camera and it was the PI. They catch him with the body bag in the trunk of his car, but when they unzip it, it's just a crash dummy. I was not expecting that. The missing law office files are in the PIs apartment, too. Weird.  He's not talking, though, so they ask Lainey to look over the dummy. She sees the three holes in the chest area and Castle says where have we seen that before? The potential client in the ER that Pitbull was poaching. They go talk to her and she tells them about another lady that came to see her the day before. They start tying all the pieces together.  The victim was driving a Modesto sedan. Pitbull used to work on the Modesto car company account. He'd realized the airbags are defective and cause projectiles to enter the chest and the dummy proved that the company knew it, but covered it up. Pitbull was trying to make things right, but of course the car company would be out millions and wants to keep that secret.  The insurance lady that came to visit the victim was really the ex-wife, the current lawyer for the car company. But she didn't kill Pitbull because she wouldn't hire someone like that PI. But hey, the PI was talking to "the Hammer" outside the hospital.

And that's the final piece of the puzzle.  Caskett talks to the Hammer and he says that Pitbull didn't realize that dummy was worth millions to the car company to get it back, but all Pitbull wanted was justice. They have blood evidence from the guy's car and handcuff him.

Back at the precinct, the boys have got themselves another trophy (with light up shoes and weird hats!) and Castle says their number would totally have won, so Espo challenges him to dance-off right there.  Castle declines and takes the good-natured ribbing. Kate realizes that Castle heard her confession and since he's friends with Kimmel got him to come through for the police event.  The final scene is them singing (in shadow) in the shower. Cute!

I thought it was a fun episode with a twisty case. Did you watch? What did you think?

Book Review: House Divided

Tour Schedule

Today I am so excited to be part of the blog tour for House Divided by Jennifer Peel.  I stayed up soooo late reading this book just to see how it ended.

We first meet Ella when she's describing the rules that rule her life and her town.  You have to be an Auburn fan or an Alabama fan, you don't ever wear a crown, and you don't associate with the Jackson family.  Ella breaks the biggest of those rules when she falls in love with Brady Jackson.

They are cruelly torn apart as teens and then the book fast forwards to ten years later.  Ella has come home to take care of a family situation and Brady seems to be everywhere she is.  Ella is trying to reconcile her buried feelings and hurt and betrayal from their breakup years ago, as well as unravel the mystery as to why the rules were there in the first place.  That is what kept me up late.  While I loved the romance between Ella and Brady, I just had to know why those rules came to be.  And it was worth the wait. So tender.

I enjoyed the southern touches the author uses, they felt genuine, I liked the small town setting, and the characters were endearing, especially Brady.  I love second chance romance stories and this one did not disappoint.  A great afternoon/evening/half the night read!

(You should scroll all the way down to read an excerpt AND for the giveaway!)

Here is the back copy:

There is a law irrevocably decreed in the state of Alabama that you must choose a team. You're either an Auburn fan or an Alabama Fan. There is no fence sitting or waffling. It’s one or the other. However, it doesn't mean that you can’t fall in love with someone from the opposing side. They even have a name for it ... House Divided. Ellie Eaton and Brady Jackson were just such a couple, but unfortunately they were separated by more than just their loyalty to a university. Against the odds and against the rules, Ellie and Brady dove right into the forbidden current of friendship and then love. Their sweet, innocent romance was one for the storybooks, but old rules and family prejudices ultimately tore them apart, just as they were each ready to depart to their beloved universities, Ellie to Auburn and Brady to Alabama. But years later, when near tragedy strikes, they're brought together again and given a second chance at love, this time with help from some very unlikely sources. House Divided is a sweet romance filled with southern charm, a dash of humor and, for good measure, a pinch of lies and intrigue.

AMAZON

Praise for the Book "House Divided was one of those books that made me want to ignore my children, my to-do list, my need for food, and pretty much anything else that would keep me from reading. Jennifer Peel has a real gift for depicting first love, heartbreak, and hope." "A tender, soft, story that truly is a gem to read." "Ms. Peel has created a story that stands as a tribute to true southern gentility, it's foibles and strengths. Truly a beautiful read that gives heart and meaning to true devotion. She truly knows how to weave a story that has beauty and true southern charm."

   

 

Author Jennifer Peel I'm a Colorado native who currently calls Alabama home. I'm the mother of three amazing children who have grown up way too fast. I enjoy the mountains, vacations at the beach, date night with my husband, late night talks with my kiddos, touring model homes, and pink bubblegum ice cream. I grew up on the Western Slope in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. I learned to love the beauty of the outdoors, but not camping--unless staying overnight at the Marriott counts. I met my husband while living in Denver and then several years later we traded the beauty and majesty of the Colorado Rocky Mountains for the art and culture of Chicago, Illinois. My family and I enjoyed living near this world class city, despite the crazy cold winters, but new adventures awaited in Northern Alabama--just six hours away from Orange Beach, Alabama. These three magical places (the Colorado Rocky Mountains, Chicago, and Orange Beach) are the inspired locations used in several of my books.

Website * Facebook * Twitter

  

$25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash Ends 4/12/15 Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

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EXCERPTS

I was so thrilled that Brady was in my home that I didn’t notice he wasn’t acting like himself. I pulled him into our drawing room where the fireplace was lit and the twelve-foot high Christmas tree sparkled in the dimly illuminated room. Under the tree sat my wrapped present for Brady. I retrieved the present and sat in front of the fireplace on the floor. Brady sat next to me, and before I could say a word, he pulled me to him and kissed me like he never had before. It was like a man kissing a woman, not a boy kissing a girl. I could barely breathe when he was done. His breathing was ragged too.

 "Well, Merry Christmas," I said. That was present enough for me. He smiled that country boy smile I loved so much, but it was then I noticed it didn’t touch his eyes like his smile always had. "What’s wrong, Brady?"

 He pulled on my hair, like he always had. "Ellie …"

 "Brady?" He took a deep breath and looked at me with his baby blues. "We can’t be together anymore," he quickly blurted out. I just shook my head. Surely I had heard him wrong, but I knew I hadn’t. I backed up, and he scooted closer. The tears welled up in my eyes and in his. "Please, Ellie, just listen to me."

 "My name is Ella," I replied bitingly.

 "Ok … Ella. I’m so sorry, but being with you is tearing my family apart, and with my daddy so sick … I … I have to … I have to do this for my family. Can you please understand that?"

I was speechless. I loved him. I had broken my aunt’s rules and heart for him. And he, he was the one who pursued me and who had to shout it to the world that we were together. How could he just end it like that? I didn’t understand. The tears began to flow. He tried to wipe them away, but I wouldn’t let him. I didn’t want him to touch me.

He stood up, but before he left, he looked down at me. "I love you, Miss Ellie." How could he? I just stared up at him blankly. "Don’t worry, Ellie, you don’t have to say it back. I love us enough for the both of us."

Friday Freebie

Today's Friday Freebie is Just My Luck by Jaclyn Weist.  Sure, it looks like more of a St. Patrick's Day book, but you can never have too much of that, right? It's middle grade and I'm excited to read it with my kids.

Here's the back copy:

Adam Crenshaw is tired of living in his little sister’s shadow. She wins everything, and he gets the leftovers. Big brothers are supposed to be the role models, right?

Then one day, all that changes. Louie is a leprechaun who offers him all the luck he could possibly want—for a price. The offer is tempting, but Adam refuses to work with him. To teach him a lesson, Louie steals all of his luck, and Adam’s life is turned upside down. He now has a choice between giving in to the leprechaun’s demands, or losing everything that matters to him.

To download your free Kindle copy click here

Royal Date Review And Giveaway!

I am SO EXCITED to tell you about this book.  I first heard about it when the author asked me to help her with her back cover copy.  It was honestly one of the most fun I had writing back copy (the subject matter intrigued me) and then the book got picked up by the Kindle Scout program and Amazon mostly kept what I had written! Yeah, I loved that.

So, when I finally got my copy of the book I delved right in.  I wanted to know more about the characters that we'd been teasing on the back cover!  And it didn't disappoint.  Kat is such a fun, witty, sarcastic character that has such a great dose of realism around her.  I loved how she interacted with the prince from the beginning to end. Nothing felt contrived and I was laughing out loud at some of their scenes and sighing in contentment as her relationship with the Prince progressed.  Of course there's some pretty awesome obstacles for them to overcome, but I was totally rooting for them the entire way through.

The prince is described as "Superman's hotter Italian cousin" and I could just imagine.  I loved how he handled his relationship with Kat from the very beginning.  Getting down to who he really is and if he can actually have Kat in his life was quite the journey.  I loved his family, as well, and they rounded out a great secondary cast.

This is the kind of book that you stay up reading for.  It has it all---romance, wit, and a couple that makes you want to believe in happily-ever-afters. I highly recommend this one.

Here's the (amazing) back cover copy:

This Cinderella didn’t plan on a prince . . .

Kat MacTaggart is a girl who has a plan for everything—including her holiday ski trip to Monterra with her best friend. Everything is going according to plan until she finds herself careening out of control down a mountainside and being rescued by a guy who looks like Superman’s hotter Italian cousin.

HRH Prince Nico is intrigued by the woman he saved on the slopes and her refusal to date him. He offers Kat a deal—let him show her his country and he’ll pay her to write articles that will help Monterra’s tourism industry. Kat agrees, but given her past and lingering distrust of men, she has one condition—absolutely no kissing.

Thanks to the claims of a jealous British noblewoman and the schemes of a meddling paparazzo, Kat’s rule doesn’t seem to be a problem at first. But the more Kat gets to know Nico and the people around him, the harder it is to remember her keep-your-distance plan. Should she stick to it or risk everything for a chance at happily ever after?

You can find it on Goodreads here

And you can purchase your copy herefor $3.49 (but I understand you get 50% off if you use the discount code ScoutOne)

And scroll down for your chance to enter a giveaway for a $50 Amazon gift card!

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Writer Goal Wednesday And A Cover Reveal!

photo credit: plnaugle via photopin cc

I had some really awesome things happen this week that threw off my goals!  But that's okay. Writers have to be flexible, right?

The first thing is, I got my new cover for On The Edge.

*drum roll*

TA-DA!

Don't you love it? The details of the little bio-hazard symbol in the eye of the camera really appeal to me.  And that guy means business!  Here's the back copy for that book:

Dylan Campbell, a CSIS officer, has been undercover hundreds of times before and is ready to get out of the game.  But before he can tell his bosses at the Canadian spy agency, he discovers a terrorist plot that could take him―and millions of others―out permanently.  Getting the information up the chain of command proves complicated, though, when Dylan's cover is blown and he's captured and thrown in an African prison. Will he be the first test subject for the new and deadly virus about to be unleashed on the world?

American CIA officer Elizabeth Spencer is undercover for one reason―to find the virus being weaponized at a private hospital in Africa.  When she meets Dylan, a Canadian photojournalist, she uses him to strengthen her story that she's only there to help.  But the more she works with Dylan, the more the lines between professional and personal get blurred. She knows better than to get involved with someone while on assignment and the reason for that rule hits home when the terrorists’ move up their timetable and Dylan is put in grave danger.  Can she stand by and watch him die?

 With everything on the line, Dylan and Elizabeth have one chance to stop the terrorist attack before it reaches North America―but they have to make it to Greece. Can they break Dylan out of prison and stay alive long enough to prevent the release of the virus? Or will one or the other be called upon to offer the ultimate sacrifice?

The second thing was that I had two reviews come in for my novella Falling Slowly!  

Aimee at Getting Your Read On said, "In Falling Slowly we get a follow-up on Rafe and Claire's romance. I loved it." You can read her entire review here.

Julia Lance at Book Reviewing Rocks said, "This story is such a great one and so sweet."  You can read her entire review here

So, as you can imagine, getting new covers and new reviews has kept me busy.  The print version of On The Edge should be available today and I worked really hard on that!

But what were my goals from last week?  Let's refresh our memories.

Continue working on my press kit.

Do another pass of On The Edge

Finish up details for Falling Slowly and All Fall Down audiobook blog tour.

Well, I finished my press kit and it looks beautiful if I do say so myself.  You can see it here

Obviously I finished On The Edge and am so happy with how everything turned out!

I am still finishing up some minor details on the blog tour, but will have some announcements for you soon.

Whew!  No wonder I'm tired! I did a lot this week.  

My only goal for next week is to launch the audio book for All Fall Down and my novella Falling Slowly.  

How did you do on your goals this week?

Castle's Ryan Episode

Last night's Castle shows what a gem we have on the team---Kevin Ryan.  A family man, trying to earn a little extra money for his daughter's college fund when everything goes sideways.

We start off the show with Ryan in a bathroom, pacing back and forth, his shirt obviously bloody. He looks in the mirror and then punches it.  Flash back to six hours before.  The team is in the bullpen and Castle is chiding the boys for telling him that the training session they sat through was going to be interesting when it wasn't.  They all make plans to go to the Old Haunt, but Ryan says he has another security gig and can't go.  They ask him who he's guarding and and he says he can't tell them. (That's a bad sign.) Castle asks if it's One Direction because he likes them and that made me laugh.

Ryan is talking to his brother-in-law Frank, the owner of the security company, while they drive Congressman Lopez to a fundraiser. Frank is chatting up Ryan, saying how security is safer etc. etc. They go over the pictures of protesters and people who might want to crash the party and embarrass the congressman. Ryan is ready for anything.  He gets a little introduction to the Congressman, his wife, and his chief of staff. They head into the event and Ryan actually sees one of the protesters in the crowd that they were supposed to be on the lookout for. Ryan takes away a vial of blood from the guy before he can do anything.  The party heads backstage to get the Congressman ready for his speech.  Before Ryan knows it, shots ring out and the fundraising lady is shot and so is the Congressman. Ryan sees a guy running and gives chase, but NYPD stops Ryan since he's got his gun out and is wearing a bloody shirt. The guy gets away and Ryan is feeling mighty guilty because the fundraising lady (Carolyn) dies.

Beckett calls him to see how he is and Ryan isn't doing great.  He wants to be in on finding the shooter.  He's the only witness and is trying his best to remember any details he can.  He does recall a blue press pass, so that gives them a starting place. They interview the congressman who gives them a description of the guy that Ryan saw running away from the scene.  He was one of the protesters. Espo and Ryan go to his home, and they're waiting for the tac team when the guy appears and recognizes that there's police in a car in front of his house. He runs. Ryan chases him down and they bring him in, but he isn't talking.

Tori the tech pulls up all the pictures from the fundraiser where the protester guy appeared in it. There was a five minute time gap while he was near a storage room.  And there was also a hotel worker near it, so they go to question him. The hotel worker says he hid when the protester came in and was seen talking to a little grey-haired man. A billionaire who hates Congressman Lopez. Caskett try to interview the billionaire for more info or an alibi, but get nowhere.

Espo finds Ryan standing in front of the murder board after everyone has gone home. Ryan says he thinks that something isn't adding up and Espo encourages him to go home and get a good night's sleep.  Next scene is Kate looking at her ringing phone and realizing Castle isn't with her in bed. She goes to the hotel where Ryan has set up a ballistics scenario. Apparently he has a theory and texted Castle about it. Kate says why didn't you text me and Ryan is all, um, you don't call the voice of reason when you have a crazy theory. Haha.

Ryan thinks his test proves the protester guy wasn't the shooter.  Ryan wants to go talk to the shooter in lockup.  He tells the protester (I forgot the guy's name!)  that he knows too much now and whoever set him up is going to take care of the loose end. (Seamus Dever is so good in these scenes. He's deadly and earnest and plain awesome.)  The protester finally cracks and tells Ryan how he got the press pass delivered to his mailbox with the info on how to get backstage. Tori pulls up footage of the mailbox and the guy who delivered the press pass is . . . Frank, Ryan's brother-in-law! Twist!  (I didn't see that one coming!)

Unis try to bring Frank in, but he runs.  Ryan goes to see his sister to get her to tell him where Frank is and she does.  (They had a great brother/sister scene, too.)  He goes to visit Frank near an underpass and Frank says he didn't kill anyone, he just makes extra money getting people backstage. He doesn't want to go to prison and walks away, but Ryan pulls his gun and the police pick him up anyway.

Kate goes through Carolyn's purse and finds some texts revealing that Carolyn and the Congressman were having an affair.  They piece together some fingerprints off the envelope that Frank got with the money in it, and it belongs to congressman's wife. They confront her, but she has an alibi. Who else has access to that account and that stationery? The chief of staff girl.  She was about to be let go from the congressman's staff on Carolyn's recommendation, so she took care of Carolyn, and catapulted the congressman into the national spotlight when he was shot.  Double whammy.  (And I totally called the killer from the beginning. Go me!)  (Also, the guy playing the congressman had the weirdest look on his face while the girl made her confession.  Like he was suddenly at a loss of how his face should be reacting. haha.) They already searched the girl's apartment and found her coat with gunshot residue on it, so Ryan arrests her.

Back at the precinct Kate is putting away the pictures from the murder board and Castle sees the study guide for the captain's exam. She's going to take it and see where that goes.  Cut to Ryan with his brother-in-law outside his apartment. Frank is scared to go in and face his wife, but she opens the door and hugs him.  It's going to be okay, they'll figure it out together. Aww.

A great Ryan episode. I was on the edge of my seat, loved the way he played the suspects, and then we had the bonus of meeting his sister and seeing a bit more of Ryan's background.  So awesome.

Did you watch? What did you think?

Double Book Review--This is Jesus and Loving Helen

Today I have two books I want to tell you about.  The first is to help us get ready for Easter and is called This is Jesus.  It has chosen scriptures from the events preceding the atonement and crucifixion and selected events immediately afterward.

It is simplistic in its approach, but the beautiful artwork in it by J. Kirk Richards makes this book special.  His artwork reminds me of art I've seen in museums before, where the subject's face is sketched in, but not really clear, leaving room for the viewer's imagination.  The thing that sets this apart for Mr. Richards, however, is that he clearly portrays the emotion of those near Jesus during this time, as well as the Savior Himself.

I was glad that I could read this book with my children and enjoy the artwork, answer their questions about a certain person in a picture, or talk about something the scripture brought up while we were reading.  Even my youngest child enjoyed the time we spent reading it.

This definitely added to our Easter preparation and is sure to become a treasured family book.

You can buy your own copy for $24.99 here

Here is the back copy:

The life of the Savior is portrayed in stunning fine art pieces by award-winning artist J. Kirk Richards. These striking new images were created by the artist exclusively for this book. Accompanied by a harmonized account of the Saviors ministry, Atonement, and Resurrection, these exquisite paintings reflect a deep reverence for Christs mission and sacrifice. Each page is beautifully designed to complement the unique style of the artist. A perfect reminder of the true reason we celebrate the Easter season, this handsome volume will be treasured by the entire family for years to come.

The second book I want to tell you about today is Loving Helen by Michele Paige Holmes.  This is the second book in the Hearthfire Romance series and is a companion novel to the first one, Saving Grace.  This is definitely not a stand-alone book and in order for it to make the most sense, you really have to read Saving Grace first since this one takes place at the same time.

That said, I really enjoyed the romance between the main characters in Loving Helen. There were just enough misunderstandings to build the tension and the addition of Helen's relationship with Beth really showed off the real Helen---the one who's not jumpy and afraid.  I loved that Helen is fleshed out as a real character who has overcome so much in her life to bring her to this point and that Mr. Preston doesn't feel an insta-love for her.  It made it very realistic, even through their faux-engagement when those tender feelings are beginning to take root. I loved Mr. Preston in the first book and loved him even more in this one.  This is a clean romance, of course, but I have to say there is one "kissing scene" that was totally sigh-worthy. Since I don't want to give away any spoilers, however, I'll stop there.  I also thought the author did a great job with the secondary characters and really made the entire cast relatable and believable. I'm excited to read the third book in the series!

You can download your copy for $3.99 here

Here's the back copy:

Eighteen-year-old Helen Thatcher grew up under the protection of her older siblings, Grace and Christopher. Living in their shadows and keeping to herself suited Helen just fine—until she met widower Samuel Preston. Watching Mr. Preston care for his young daughter and seeing his concern extend to her own family, Helen felt her reserve slipping away, as she learned first to trust him and then realized she had fallen in love with him. But instead of returning—or even noticing her affection—Mr. Preston developed his own tender, and unrequited feelings, for Grace.

In the midst of each silently nursing their broken hearts, Helen and Samuel are faced with a daunting task—reuniting Grace with her fiancé, Nicholas Sutherland. Now it is Helen who must look out for her sister and sacrifice her own fragile heart, as she and Samuel pretend to be engaged. Helen finds the role surprisingly easy to play, allowing herself to imagine that Samuel’s loving remarks are sincere. As the time for their charade to end draws near Helen must summon her courage and tell Samuel the truth of her feelings, or risk losing him forever.