by Ann B. Ross
Part of Miss Julia
First published 2005
Miss Julia finds herself at a crossroads when Sam Murdoch presses her to marry him. The sharp-tongued southern widow values her hard-won independence too much to say yes easily. Her quiet life in small-town North Carolina erupts into chaos just as she needs to think clearly. Developers want to build a Holy Land theme park on her land. The mayor appears to be having an affair with the preacher's secretary. Her housekeeper Lillian's spirited five-year-old great-granddaughter arrives and turns the household upside down. Miss Julia tries to manage each crisis with her usual practical approach, but Sam's proposal forces her to examine what she truly wants. She must decide whether opening her heart means losing herself or finding something better than the life she has carefully constructed alone.
Genres: fiction, romance, american-fiction, humor, contemporary, adult, adult-fiction
Vibes: charming, introspective, lighthearted, warm, witty
Tropes: found-family, reluctant-romance, second-chance-romance
Setting: North Carolina
320 pages · Paperback · Penguin Publishing Group