Download or read book Red Hot Romeo written by Jenny Gardiner and published by Jenny Gardiner Books. This book was released on 2016-10-04 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Love the wine you’re with… Alessandro Romeo is burned out after finally extricating himself from a nearly year-long relationship with a hot-tempered Italian model who set fire to his Lamborghini when she suspected him of cheating. He’s sworn off the fairer sex and instead spends his waking hours overseeing the expansion of his family’s hugely successful winery in the magnificent hills of Chianti, where he is happy to never see a model again, let alone date one. American supermodel Taylor McFarland might be blond, but she sure isn’t dumb. And she’s smart enough to know to avoid the shallow men who seem to migrate toward her type, the ones who presume that models are the wild women of the fashion industry who happily discard men like used tissues. Only Taylor’s not that type at all; instead, she’s intent on using the influence her position affords her to help those less fortunate than she. But when her good deeds means clashing with the quintessential heartless Italian player who she’d heard left model Gia Sandretti at the altar, well, she will happily give him a piece of her mind, and certainly not a piece of her heart.

Download or read book The Royal Romeos Series written by Jenny Gardiner and published by Jenny Gardiner Books. This book was released on 2019-04-19 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Finally, the continuation of the It’s Reigning Men series, set amidst the opulence and splendor of the Tuscan wine country, with the first three books bundled together for the first time. Red Hot Romeo Love the wine you’re with… Alessandro Romeo is burned out after finally extricating himself from a nearly year-long relationship with a hot-tempered Italian model who set fire to his Lamborghini when she suspected him of cheating. He’s sworn off the fairer sex and instead spends his waking hours overseeing the expansion of his family’s hugely successful winery in the magnificent hills of Chianti, where he is happy to never see a model again, let alone date one. American supermodel Taylor McFarland might be blond, but she sure isn’t dumb. And she’s smart enough to know to avoid the shallow men who seem to migrate toward her type, the ones who presume that models are the wild women of the fashion industry who happily discard men like used tissues. Only Taylor’s not that type at all; instead, she’s intent on using the influence her position affords her to help those less fortunate than she. But when her good deeds means clashing with the quintessential heartless Italian player who she’d heard left model Gia Sandretti at the altar, well, she will happily give him a piece of her mind, and certainly not a piece of her heart. Black Sheep Romeo On cloud wine… Sometimes trouble seems to find Matteo Romeo whether he seeks it out or not. Long regarded as the black sheep of the famed Romeo winemaking family, he’s hardly surprised when he finds himself in yet another predicament, this time harboring an unauthorized farmhand who he’s discovered hiding in a tool shed just as the grape harvest gets underway. Freespirited Lizzie Moretti has long prized her independence. Lizzie’s been wandering around the world, working odd jobs to earn just enough money to keep on the go. Forced to flee an aggressive host in the middle of a rainy night while working on a farm in Tuscany, she seeks the shelter of a tool shed until she can figure out a plan. Alas, it happens to be on the estate of the wealthy Romeo family on the eve of the coveted grape harvest, when strangers like Lizzie are most unwelcome. She’s never put down roots. And he can’t seem to escape the roots that sometimes feel like they’re strangling him. They both walked away from family, but can they find salvation in the very family they’ve tried to run from? Red Carpet Romeo Look who’s grown up now… Valentina Romeo loved a romantic wedding, and couldn’t wait to serve as an attendant in her favorite cousin Prince Luca of Monaforte’s upcoming nuptials. She and Luca had reveled in childhood summers at the family estate on the Ligurian Sea. Many of her fondest memories were made there, along with one of her most humiliating, when Luca’s college roommate Parker shunned her brave declaration of love. Investment banker Parker Hornsby hadn’t been back to Monaforte since he was in college. Back then he’d spent a glorious summer enjoying idyllic days at his best friend Luca’s family beach home. The fun was marred only by Luca’s obtrusive younger cousin Valentina, who could barely mask her crush on Parker, forcing him to flatly cut her off before she got her hopes up. The last thing Parker wanted was to be accused of going after his friend’s jailbait cousin, even if she was about the sweetest fourteen-year old girl he’d ever met. But when Parker shows up in Monaforte, paired in Luca’s wedding with Valentina, all bets are off on whether he can restrain himself from the beautiful—and fully grown-up—heiress to the world-famous Romeo wine label, or whether he remains the nemesis she thinks he is.

Download or read book Big O Romeo written by Jenny Gardiner and published by Jenny Gardiner Books. This book was released on 2017-09-26 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Oh, oh, ohhh, what a feeling! Allie Ledbetter is outstanding in her field. Well, sort of. After all, she stands in a lot of fields as she releases her peregrine falcon to help fend off huge flocks of starlings from decimating grape yields at vineyards that hire her. And she and her falcon just landed a dream job: working at a vineyard in Tuscany keeping birds from having a feast with the grapes. Francesco Romeo is sick to death of things that eat his crop. As the brother tasked with eradicating these pesky marauders at the top producer of premier wines in the Chianti region of Tuscany, Francesco is enraged when he learns the vineyard next door has hired a falconer to scare away swarming flocks of starlings, and now the birds are instead happily feasting on the Romeo family’s predator-free grapes, and Francesco has to go toe-to-toe with the feisty falconer, who just happens to be a woman he’s already gone mouth-to-mouth with.

Download or read book Blue Blooded Romeo written by Jenny Gardiner and published by Jenny Gardiner Books. This book was released on 2017-07-25 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This devil has her blood boiling… Stella Whitaker’s never been one to mince words. But on a flight to Paris, instead of sending a seat-chat message to her friend about the guy who cut in front of her in the boarding line, she inadvertently sends it to the man himself, letting him know in no uncertain terms what she thought about him. Dominico Romeo has no patience for annoying women, particularly when he’s short on sleep and feeling overwhelmed. So when he politely points out to a woman in front of him that she’s in line prematurely for her boarding zone, he’s less than pleased that she lashes out at him. He shrugs it off, until the two of them end up paired together in a professional wine class that might just drive him to drink.

Download or read book Silver Spoon Romeo written by Jenny Gardiner and published by Jenny Gardiner Books. This book was released on 2017-06-13 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: …Who needs a spoon when he’s so finger lickin’ good? Celebrity TV show host Sophie Pellegrino’s life needs a little kick-start. Watching her best friend fall head-over-heels for a handsome Italian man had already stirred up Sophie’s longings to at the very least get in touch with her Italian roots. She’d be even happier if she could get in touch with an Italian man while she was at it. Preferably while drinking plenty of delicious Italian wine. When she lands her dream assignment hosting a “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” type of show, she seizes the opportunity to attempt all of the above when she decides to take her show in the road to the world-renowned vineyard Cantine Marchesi Romeo in Chianti. Italy? Check. Fine wine? Check. Italian man? With some luck, maybe she could find herself a Romeo playmate and score her own personal hat trick while basking beneath the Tuscan sun. Lorenzo Romeo, a playboy whose friends liked to joke that he put the “roam” in Romeo, is tired of being used as the face of Romeo wines. For too long, his brother Alessandro has made Lorenzo serve as the mouthpiece for the family empire, and he’s over being just another pretty face to sell wine. He wants to be taken seriously. So when an American woman shows up wanting to capitalize on his good looks to score some television ratings, he wants nothing to do with her show or her. And when his brother forces him to be a gracious host, Lorenzo digs deep to shun the stunning intruder who is clearly intent on making his life a living hell. Too bad for him, Sophie’s not going to let some conceited Italian Alpha Dog get in the way of her professional success, even if that means running roughshod over his bloated ego, and maybe even his fragile heart.

Download or read book Blue Collar Romeo written by Jenny Gardiner and published by Jenny Gardiner Books. This book was released on 2017-04-11 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Look who’s grown up now… Valentina Romeo loved a romantic wedding, and couldn’t wait to serve as an attendant in her favorite cousin Prince Luca of Monaforte’s upcoming nuptials. She and Luca had reveled in childhood summers at the family estate on the Ligurian Sea. Many of her fondest memories were made there, along with one of her most humiliating, when Luca’s college roommate Parker shunned her brave declaration of love. Investment banker Parker Hornsby hadn’t been back to Monaforte since he was in college. Back then he’d spent a glorious summer enjoying idyllic days at his best friend Luca’s family beach home. The fun was marred only by Luca’s obtrusive younger cousin Valentina, who could barely mask her crush on Parker, forcing him to flatly cut her off before she got her hopes up. The last thing Parker wanted was to be accused of going after his friend’s jailbait cousin, even if she was about the sweetest fourteen-year old girl he’d ever met. But when Parker shows up in Monaforte, paired in Luca’s wedding with Valentina, all bets are off on whether he can restrain himself from the beautiful—and fully grown-up—heiress to the world-famous Romeo wine label, or whether her remains the nemesis she thinks he is.

Download or read book Black Sheep Romeo written by Jenny Gardiner and published by Jenny Gardiner Books. This book was released on 2016-12-06 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On cloud wine… Sometimes trouble seems to find Matteo Romeo whether he seeks it out or not. Long regarded as the black sheep of the famed Romeo winemaking family, he’s hardly surprised when he finds himself in yet another predicament, this time harboring an unauthorized farmhand who he’s discovered hiding in a tool shed just as the grape harvest gets underway. Freespirited Lizzie Moretti has long prized her independence. Lizzie’s been wandering around the world, working odd jobs to earn just enough money to keep on the go. Forced to flee an aggressive host in the middle of a rainy night while working on a farm in Tuscany, she seeks the shelter of a tool shed until she can figure out a plan. Alas, it happens to be on the estate of the wealthy Romeo family on the eve of the coveted grape harvest, when strangers like Lizzie are most unwelcome. She’s never put down roots. And he can’t seem to escape the roots that sometimes feel like they’re strangling him. They both walked away from family, but can they find salvation in the very family they’ve tried to run from?

Download or read book Falling for Mr Wrong written by Jenny Gardiner and published by Jenny Gardiner Books. This book was released on 2017-11-14 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If lusting after him is wrong, she doesn’t want to be right… Harper Landry sometimes feels like she’s turned into a professional dater. Which might not be such a bad job if it didn’t involve having to spend so much time with a succession of truly undesirable men who were obviously still single for good reason. So she’s elated when she ends up on a blind date with the charming and handsome Danny Greevy, a man who seems too good to be true. But Harper’s starting to think that too good to be true might be downright perfect for her. Particularly when the man who launched her man-drought shows up unexpectedly to throw a wrench in her life yet again. Noah Gunderson is back in town after traveling the world for the past several years. Forced to return home after promising his mother on her deathbed to save the beloved inn that she’d nearly run into the ground, he’s planning to get far away from Verity Beach just as soon as he’s got the inn back in the black. And he’s determined not to let the distraction of Harper Landry, the one that got away, keep him here a moment longer.

Download or read book Hard to Get Lucky written by Jenny Gardiner and published by Jenny Gardiner Books. This book was released on 2021-02-28 with total page 85 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Not such a cutie patootie... Alyssa Heyward has held a powerful grudge against Josh “The Mad Tooter” Trumbull for the better part of her life. Not that obsessing over something that happened when you were a tween is a particularly helpful thing to do for your mental health. And not like she’s dwelt on it forever. In fact, she hadn’t considered it—or him—for a long, long time… Until he shows up at her door as the new general contractor set to do major renovations on her house. Which instantly resurrects all of those old feelings about the sleepover at her best friend’s house when she ever-so-reluctantly agreed to partake in her first (and last) game of spin-the-bottle. When the creepiest boy in the Fourth grade spun, and the bottle pointed toward Alyssa, she thought her life was over indeed. And when she stood as far away from him in the dark storage closet instead of submitting to an unwanted kiss from the boy everyone knew had eaten a fly in the cafeteria and whose propensity for, um, breaking wind in all the wrong places (not to mention belching like a bullfrog) were the hallmark of his personality, she hoped she’d dodged a bullet. Until Josh Trumbull exited the closet and told everyone that instead of kissing him, Alyssa had emitted a noxious fume in the closed space. Perhaps the high point of Josh Trumbull’s prank-filled childhood happened at a spin-the-bottle party, when the girl he fostered a wicked crush on refused to grant him that one little kiss, and instead treated him like a pariah when they were sequestered in the dark confines of the kissing closet. Quick on his feet with a rejoinder, Josh popped out of the dark room and told all his buddies that Alyssa had pooted in there, killing all romantic notions of a first kiss. He hadn’t given this moment a second thought for the rest of his life. Until now. When he rings the doorbell of the woman whose home he’s set to renovate and when she opens the door, her face falls, much like it did when that spinning bottle pointed straight at her nearly fifteen years earlier. Leaving him to wonder: does he have any chance of rebuilding a relationship with the woman who hates him most as he rebuilds her home?

Download or read book Hard to Get Over written by Jenny Gardiner and published by Jenny Gardiner Books. This book was released on 2021-10-05 with total page 95 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Go hard or go home… After losing her beloved neighbor Violet, Daphne Sweeney realizes her dream when Violet leaves her part ownership of the duplex she shared with her aged friend. Finally, after years of trying to scrape together the money for her own place, Daphne can stay put, establish some real roots, in her humble little home from Violet. Until she realizes Violet left the remaining ownership of the house to a very distant relative, Brady McGovern, who just so happens to be Daphne’s college boyfriend who fled town the day after graduation, never to be heard from again. And Brady has touched down in town just long enough to unload the property and get back on the road again, just like the good old days.

Download or read book Falling for Mr Wrong Series written by Jenny Gardiner and published by Jenny Gardiner Books. This book was released on 2019-05-06 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hit the beach with one of your favorites from Big O Romeo…after the palatial elegance of the Royal Romeo series, it’s time to relax in the warm, summertime vibes of the North Carolina shores, where sun, fun, and romance take center stage, with the first three books of the series bundled for the first time... Falling for Mr. Wrong If lusting after him is wrong, she doesn’t want to be right… Harper Landry sometimes feels like she’s turned into a professional dater. Which might not be such a bad job if it didn’t involve having to spend so much time with a succession of truly undesirable men who were obviously still single for good reason. So she’s elated when she ends up on a blind date with the charming and handsome Danny Greevy, a man who seems too good to be true. But Harper’s starting to think that too good to be true might be downright perfect for her. Particularly when the man who launched her man-drought shows up unexpectedly to throw a wrench in her life yet again. Noah Gunderson is back in town after traveling the world for the past several years. Forced to return home after promising his mother on her deathbed to save the beloved inn that she’d nearly run into the ground, he’s planning to get far away from Verity Beach just as soon as he’s got the inn back in the black. And he’s determined not to let the distraction of Harper Landry, the one that got away, keep him here a moment longer. Falling for Mr. Maybe If it swells, ride it… Georgie Childress moved to Verity Beach to lick her wounds after her controlling fiancé pulled a runner mere weeks before the wedding. Jobless and desperate to flee his turf, she sought solace in the quietude of the ocean, happily escaping into her own thoughts while surrounded by diving dolphins and cacophonous seagulls. Only when she accidentally runs over some random—and super sexy—surfer dude’s surfboard does she start to wonder if she needs to bring her head out of the clouds and start paying attention to life again. Spencer Willoughby long ago fled his rigid upbringing, shunning the familial expectations of an Ivy League education and Wall Street career in favor of the sun, sand and surf along North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Give him a surfboard and he’s a happy man. That is until some nutty lady with a penchant for fender-benders backs into his beloved hand-crafted wooden surfboard, snapping it in half. It’s enough to make a man crazy—crazier still because the kooky blond is making his blood run hot. Just when he finally gets the woman out of his head, Spencer is unwittingly paired off with her at a wedding as a favor to a friend, forcing him to make nice with his board-murdering nemesis who he might just want to ride off into the sunset. Falling for Mr. No Way in Hell Taking the plunge… Lacy Caldwell’s mermaid gig at a cheesy roadside beach bar provided much-needed income while she pursues her graduate degree. That is until the beloved owner dies and her greedy nephew announces he’s cashing out by closing the bar and selling the property to a developer who’s going to replace the kitschy charm of the Mermaid’s Purse with ocean-view condos. Cameron Sanders can’t believe his good luck. Struggling financially, he’s thrilled to find out some random, ancient aunt he hardly knew died and left him an inheritance that’ll help take the money monkey off his back. He’s ready to go to the mat in battle when some annoying mermaid from the bar tries to throw a wrench in his plans. But things get complicated when he realizes that she’s a woman he’s started to have feelings for.

Download or read book Falling for Mr Maybe written by Jenny Gardiner and published by Jenny Gardiner Books. This book was released on 2018-01-09 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If it swells, ride it… Georgie Childress moved to Verity Beach to lick her wounds after her controlling fiancé pulled a runner mere weeks before the wedding. Jobless and desperate to flee his turf, she sought solace in the quietude of the ocean, happily escaping into her own thoughts while surrounded by diving dolphins and cacophonous seagulls. Only when she accidentally runs over some random—and super sexy—surfer dude’s surfboard does she start to wonder if she needs to bring her head out of the clouds and start paying attention to life again. Spencer Willoughby long ago fled his rigid upbringing, shunning the familial expectations of an Ivy League education and Wall Street career in favor of the sun, sand and surf along North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Give him a surfboard and he’s a happy man. That is until some nutty lady with a penchant for fender-benders backs into his beloved hand-crafted wooden surfboard, snapping it in half. It’s enough to make a man crazy—crazier still because the kooky blond is making his blood run hot. Just when he finally gets the woman out of his head, Spencer is unwittingly paired off with her at a wedding as a favor to a friend, forcing him to make nice with his board-murdering nemesis who he might just want to ride off into the sunset.

Download or read book Skirt Chaser written by Jenny Gardiner and published by Jenny Gardiner Books. This book was released on 2018-09-04 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sometimes you’d rather be caught with your pants down than your skirt up… Zoey Richards needs to get far away from her past. Following a broken engagement and an earful of I-told-you-so’s from her controlling parents, she decides to flee the West Coast for the hinterlands, finding herself alone and licking her wounds in the wide open spaces of Bristol, Montana, happily away from anyone who knows her or anything about her life. Tanner Eliason loves that no one knows who he really is. More like who he was. As the son of a famous film director and his attention-seeking starlet wife, every moment of his childhood was recorded by the paparazzi for posterity. And suffice it to say nothing about your childhood should be in the public spotlight so much. So when the daughter of a family friend punches a ten-year old Tanner at a film premier and he runs to his mother for solace, the media had a field day mocking the poor boy. From then on, Tanner counted the minute till he could escape his childhood and carve a normal life for himself in the mountains of Montana, where no one would ever know that he once was known the world-over as the Weeping Wimp. That is until the girl with the mean left hook shows up in his one-horse town, and threatens to make his life a living hell.

Download or read book Slim to None written by Jenny Gardiner and published by Jenny Gardiner Books. This book was released on 2015-11-03 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From bestselling author Jenny Gardiner: Abbie Jennings is Manhattan's top food critic until her expanding waistline makes staying incognito at restaurants impossible. Her cover blown on Page Six of the New York Post, her editor has no choice but to bench her—and suggest she use the time off to bench-press her way back to anonymity. Abbie’s life has been built around her career, and therefore around celebrating food. Forced to drop the pounds if she wants her primo gig back, Abbie must peel back the layers of her past and confront the fears that have led to her current life. PRAISE FOR SLIM TO NONE: “With a strong yet delightfully vulnerable voice, food critic Abbie Jennings embarks on a soulful journey where her love for banana cream pie and disdain for ill-fitting Spanx clash in hilarious and heartbreaking ways. As her body balloons and her personal life crumbles, Abbie must face the pain and secret fears she’s held inside for far too long. I cheered for her the entire way.” – Beth Hoffman, New York Times bestselling author of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt "Jenny Gardiner has done it again - this fun, fast-paced book is a great summer read." – Sarah Pekkanen, New York Times bestselling author of The Opposite of Me "Satisfying as a Thanksgiving dinner at Mom's... Jenny Gardiner's heroine gives us a sarcastic but provocative look at our love-hate relationship with food. You'll eat this up in one sitting.” – Ad Hudler, bestselling author of Househusband and Man of the House Keywords: women’s fiction, romantic comedy, humor, contemporary romance, modern fairy tale, new adult, second chances, romance, love, chick lit, chicklit, wedding, marriage, self-discovery, family issues

Download or read book Falling for Mr Sometimes written by Jenny Gardiner and published by Jenny Gardiner Books. This book was released on 2018-05-15 with total page 139 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If this truck’s a-rockin’ don’t come a-knockin’ Jamie Lundquist had gone soft. More like squishy. Usually a lean, athletic surfer girl, the stress of her newly-divorced parents dueling for her undivided attention had driven her to seek solace in food and binge-watching TV shows, and her fat ass had become a testimonial to her woes. So with the New Year, she’s vowed to turn over a new leaf and get back in shape before surf season kicks in. But temperatures rise and tempers flare when she has to wedge her car into a half space left by some jerk who straddled two spaces in the crowded gym parking lot, and he goes for the jugular, pointing out that she needs to stop criticizing him and get to the gym to rehabilitate her out-of-shape physique. Carter Henderson’s day just keeps getting worse. First he flattens a skunk in his new truck, then he gets not one but two injuries during his pre-dawn workout. He just wants to get home, take a hot shower and ice his wounds before embarking on the first day of the new job he was so excited to start. Instead he finds himself a speechless combatant in a war of words with a snarky woman who’s all up his ass over his park job. Jamie would like nothing more than to forget that the jerk existed. Until he turns up as the new chef at her father’s new restaurant, where she’s been waitressing while trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life. And when her father refuses her demands to fire the moron, all bets are off as the heat is turned up to scorching in the kitchen to see who will bring the other down first.

Download or read book Hard to Get written by Jenny Gardiner and published by Jenny Gardiner Books. This book was released on 2020-10-06 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shrimply irresistible… Lola Quigley can’t believe her good luck when she wins a spot on the Food Channel’s popular Shop till you Drop. The show features amateur foodies competing to produce a prize-winning meal from staples commonly found in food banks, where people often unload their most unwanted pantry items. Having lived on a near poverty-level budget for a few dark years when her life imploded unexpectedly, Lola had grown to love the challenge of creating delicious meals with the cheapest ingredients she could find on the sale shelf of the grocery store, or—in a twist of irony—donated from her local food bank. She just has to win this: the prize money would help her launch the soup kitchen food truck she’s dreamed of starting. It’ll be her way of paying it forward after she managed to dig out of a financial hole she’d doubted she ever could escape. Levi Patton is pissed. He’s stuck doing penance as a guest chef on an annoying cable reality TV show where overly enthusiastic wannabes try to outdo him with random undesirable ingredients. Will he ever get over the meteoric crash of his career after a food critic found the unmistakable tail of a rat floating atop his bouillabaisse at Levi’s revered Washington, DC, restaurant? Convinced, but unable to prove, that a jealous sous chef sabotaged him, his name is now mud in the food world; he’s drowning in the veritable toilet of the culinary industry: competing on Shop till you Drop. And he’s totally screwed when he ends up pitted against the overly cheerful brunette with the tattoo of Popeye on her bicep, the very woman he’d left at the altar nearly a decade ago.

Download or read book Lady Killer written by Jenny Gardiner and published by Jenny Gardiner Books. This book was released on 2019-11-26 with total page 95 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Don’t go bacon my heart… Animal lover Coco Lovingston wants to recharge her soul after a bruising attempt to succeed as an actress in Los Angeles, so she returns home to Bristol, Montana to a simpler life, working at an animal rescue clinic to recharge her broken spirit. She’s perfectly content filling her days caring for abandoned creatures, enjoying lone strolls in the mountains, and reconnecting with old friends, but soon learns how precious life is when she takes a wrong turn on a dense forest hike and can’t find her way out. Elliott Barbour was seriously not looking for a pig in his life. In fact, the only reason he’d even stopped by the Second Chances rescue clinic was to get his mother a kitten for her birthday. Until he’s talked out of it by a cute employee who argues that a cat can live a long, damned time, and his mom wasn’t getting any younger. Which would mean he’d get stuck some day with a fusty feline: pure torture, what with his allergies. When he takes one look at Oink, the miniature pig batting her come-hither lashes at him, what’s he to do but go in whole-hog and bring her home as the unusual pet his mother never knew she’d love? Too late he realizes that he’s got an unwanted pig in a poke, since miniature pigs are a lot of work and don’t remain so tiny after all, and his mom declines the porcine gift. No sooner is the feisty little porker making him crazy than he’s tasked with spearheading the rescue of some dumb woman who’s gone missing after foolishly heading off in the mountains without even a cell phone or a bottle of water. Elliott counts the minutes till he can give her a piece of his mind for her irresponsibility—that is, if he’s even able to find her alive.