I came to Whispering Key for a job. That was all. To show the world Mason Bloom could be more than a small-town doctor living a medium-sized life. Private doctor on a swanky island with a posh resort? Check. But from the moment I set foot on this island, nothing went according to plan. I didn’t expect to find the resort falling apart. I didn’t expect the people here to be so charming and crazy and welcoming and real. I didn’t expect legends about shipwrecks and buried treasure. And I definitely didn’t expect Fenn Reardon, the island’s incredibly attractive, incredibly infuriating, incredibly male resident tour guide, to become the one person I can’t live without. Thirty-five’s a bit late for me to realize I'm not straight, though, right? And I have big dreams that won’t fit on Whispering Key, anyway—dreams that do not include tying myself to a tiny island stuck in the past or to a man who refuses to think about the future. My head’s telling me I have to leave Whispering Key… My heart’s telling me there might be treasure on this island after all.

I was supposed to be partying with a bunch of celebrities in paradise this week, okay? But then I made one teeny, tiny error in judgement before leaving New York, and suddenly the paparazzi expected me to give a command performance as “the other man” in their straight celebrity “outing” of the week. Um, no, precious. So much no. Instead, I did what any self-respecting, secret-keeping man would do in that situation: I cancelled my trip and fled New York to hide out in the last place anyone would look for me—a weird little Florida island where nothing exciting ever happened. Or at least it didn’t… until I arrived. Now I find myself shacked up with my fake boyfriend Beale Goodman, Whispering Key’s most adorable, most enormous, most virginal cinnamon roll—a guy who rescues feral cats, believes in soulmates, and talks about happiness like it’s free for the taking. A guy who nearly convinces me, with every smile and kiss, that it is. Stranger still? I find myself falling for the people on the island. Fitting in, instead of sticking out. Making, you know… friends. And for the first time ever, I think I’ve found something I want to run to, rather than from... As long as I can keep my secrets from catching up with me.

I’m about to sing you the saddest song in the universe, and it’s called “The Man of My Dreams Married My Sister.” It’s kinda my theme song. And trust me when I tell you, it’s heavy on the violins. Because the man in question? He’s not just any guy, he’s Rafe freakin’ Goodman. My former best friend. The boy who made my summers on Whispering Key magical. The guy who inspired every love song that led to the chart-topping music career I have today. The man I always sort of figured would wait for me, while I pursued my dreams and finally found a way to tell the world I was gay… But instead of waiting, he married Aimee. Rafe and Aimee’s marriage has been over for a while now, but it doesn’t really matter. He doesn’t love me even though I feel like I’ll love him until the day I die. Trying to be “just friends” would tear me apart. We’re a broken chord. A blue note. Hopelessly out of tune. Or so I thought. But when circumstances throw us back together on a crazy cross-country road trip, suddenly all kinds of secrets come to light that make it seem like maybe our show’s not over yet. If I want a life with the man of my dreams, though, I’ll have to be honest—with Rafe and the rest of the world, too—and find the courage to write us a new song. One that’s exactly like us: perfectly imperfect… and a little off key.