Hold Me

Isabel Cook has a hard time accepting her homecoming. Moving from California back to her hometown of Heartwood, Virginia has her pride squealing in pain. Accompanied by her fiance, Duncan, she makes the transition just in time for her fifteen-year reunion. There she encounters and reconnects with her old childhood friend, August McKenney. The reunion is bittersweet, as August reminds her of her past and all the things Isabel tried to leave behind. Now in her mid-thirties, she is transported back to the town of her youth, forced to live in a hotel until the renovations on her house are completed, and hating her job. August is there to lend his support either way. They made a promise to each other the year they turned thirteen. If neither one of them is married by thirty-five, then they would give themselves to each other in holy matrimony. Isabel had thought herself safe, never realizing that, even after all this time, August still loves her. And has made it his mission to do everything possible to claim her. The first in the series, Hold Me sets the stage for awkward remembrances and unwelcome revisiting.