Part of Series
He prefers older, sophisticated women who know what they want. Or at least he did, until he begins to see his assistant in a different light. But she’s done with her stupid crush on her boss. Done, done, done! Finn Casella was always the shy, reticent one in the midst of the lively, outgoing Casella cousins. When he was young, he liked books and writing more than he liked people. Now a successful independent bookstore owner in the heart of New York City, he’s settling into his life and wants to get back to his unfinished novel. Millie Morrison worked her way through a college degree in literature and a Masters’ Degree in business by supporting herself with her job in the bookstore. She's generous and sensitive to her friends and customers. But each overture to her boss has been met with cool professionalism. Well, she’s overcome harder things in her life than unrequited love. Can these two people, with more in common than they realize, forge something new out of his emotional baggage and her starry-eyed optimism? Some interesting plot twists will keep you guessing and rooting for them to make it—together. Look for cameo appearances by the O’Neils, who own Bailey’s Irish Pub on MacDougal Street.
Author
Kathryn Shay is a lifelong writer. At fifteen, she penned her first 'romance,' a short story about a female newspaper reporter in New York City and her fight to make a name for herself in a world of male journalists - and with one hardheaded editor in particular. Looking back, Kathryn says she should have known then that writing was in her future. But as so often happens, fate sent her detouring down another path. Fully intending to pursue her dream of big city lights and success in the literary world, Kathryn took every creative writing class available at the small private women's college she attended in upstate New York. Instead, other dreams took precedence. She met and subsequently married a wonderful guy who'd attended a neighboring school, then completed her practice teaching, a requirement for the education degree she never intended to use. But says Kathryn, "I fell in love with teaching the first day I was up in front of a class, and knew I was meant to do that." Kathryn went on to build a successful career in the New York state school system, thoroughly enjoying her work with adolescents. But by the early 1990s, she'd again made room in her life for writing. It was then that she submitted her first manuscript to publishers and agents. Despite enduring two years of rejections, she persevered. And on a snowy December afternoon in 1994, Kathryn Shay sold her first book to Harlequin Superromance. Since that first sale, Kathryn has written twenty-one books for Harlequin, nine mainstream contemporary romances for the Berkley Publishing Group, and two online novellas, which Berkley then published in traditional print format. Kathryn has become known for her powerful characterizations - readers say they feel they know the people in her books - and her heart-wrenching, emotional writing (her favorite comments are that fans cried while reading her books or stayed up late to finish them). In testament to her skill, the author has won five RT BookClub Magazine Reviewers Choice Awards, three Holt Medallions, two Desert Quill Awards, the Golden Leaf Award, and several online accolades. Even in light of her writing success, that initial love of teaching never wavered for Kathryn. She finished out her teaching career in 2004, retiring from the same school where her career began. These days, she lives in upstate New York with her husband and two children. "My life is very full," she reports, "but very happy. I consider myself fortunate to have been able to pursue and achieve my dreams."
