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    Miss Matched Hearts: A Harbor Falls Romance, #8
    Miss Matched Hearts: A Harbor Falls Romance, #8
    Miss Matched Hearts: A Harbor Falls Romance, #8
    Ebook116 pages2 hours

    Miss Matched Hearts: A Harbor Falls Romance, #8

    By Maddie James

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    About this ebook

    As local celebrity chef Suzie Hart starts to step out of her regional fame and into the bigger world, she launches her debut cooking show with some local flavor—a blind date matchmaking sketch with a friend that goes south quicker than geese in winter….

     

    Becca North doesn't want a boyfriend—she is so off men. Her best friend Nora, however, makes boyfriend hunting a sport. When Nora, owner of the Harbor Falls' bookstore, Nora's Novel Niche, meets Suzie the matchmaking chef during a book signing at her store, she finagles her way into a romantic picnic blind date lunch on Suzie's new television show. Nora drags a reluctant Becca along for moral support.

     

    Thing is, Nora's blind date would rather check out Becca.

     

    Sam Ackerman understands the hazards of being childhood friends with Suzie Hart. Suzie has a way of convincing friends to do her bidding—whether they want to or not. How the landscaper gets finagled into this blind date scenario with a local book store owner is all Suzie's doings—and the fact that he is caught up in a matchmaking scheme is not lost on him.

     

    Still, Suzie is persistent and he caves—but only as a favor. He's not interested in dating right now, let alone get joined at the hip with some blind date, husband-hunting, boyfriend-seeker. He's off women.

     

    And then he spies Becca.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSand Dune Books
    Release dateMay 22, 2018
    ISBN9781622374847
    Miss Matched Hearts: A Harbor Falls Romance, #8
    Author

    Maddie James

    Maddie James writes to silence the people in her head. They finally quiet down when their stories are told. Author of 50+ romantic novels, novellas, and short stories, Maddie writes romantic fiction in contemporary, paranormal, and romantic suspense worlds. She’s mighty partial to her cowboys. Maddie began her romance writing career as a traditionally published author in 1997 and has published with several traditional and small press publishers. Currently, she works as an independent author publishing through her own imprint. Besides writing romance fiction, Maddie writes non-fiction under another name. Winner of the Calico Trails Cameo Award (Roses & Rawhide) and the Romance Book Scene’s Best Novella Award (Red: A Cajun Seduction Tale), Maddie has been listed as a Top 100 Contemporary Romance author at Amazon, and a Rising Star of Western Romance at iBooks. Affaire de Coeur says, “James shows a special talent for traditional romance,” and RT Book Reviews claims, “James deftly combines romance and suspense, so hop on for an exhilarating ride.”

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      Book preview

      Miss Matched Hearts - Maddie James

      Miss Matched Hearts

      A Harbor Falls Romance, Book 8

      Sweet Hart Inn

      As local celebrity chef Suzie Hart starts to step out of her regional fame and into the bigger world, she launches her debut cooking show with some local flavor—a blind date matchmaking sketch with a friend that goes south quicker than geese in winter....

      Becca North doesn’t want a boyfriend—she is so off men. Her best friend Nora, however, makes boyfriend hunting a sport. When Nora, owner of the Harbor Falls’ bookstore, Nora’s Novel Niche, meets Suzie the matchmaking chef during a book signing at her store, she finagles her way into a romantic picnic blind date lunch on Suzie’s new television show. Nora drags a reluctant Becca along for moral support.

      Thing is, Nora’s blind date would rather check out Becca.

      Sam Ackerman understands the hazards of being childhood friends with Suzie Hart. Suzie has a way of convincing friends to do her bidding—whether they want to or not. How the landscaper gets finagled into this blind date scenario with a local book store owner is all Suzie’s doings—and the fact that he is caught up in a matchmaking scheme is not lost on him.

      Still, Suzie is persistent and he caves—but only as a favor. He’s not interested in dating right now, let alone get joined at the hip with some blind date, husband-hunting, boyfriend-seeker. He’s off women.

      And then he spies Becca.

      Cast of Characters

      Main Characters

      Rebecca (Becca) North

      Sam Ackerman

      Supporting Characters

      Nora Patterson

      Suzie Hart Matthews

      New friends you’ll meet:

      Trudy North (Becca’s mother)

      Patricia Plum

      Old friends you will see again

      Suzie Hart Matthews

      Brad Matthews

      Jack Ackerman

      The Harbor Falls Times Herald

      LOCAL CELEBRITY CHEF TO SIGN FIRST COOKBOOK

      HARBOR FALLS, NC: Chef Suzie Hart, owner of the popular Harbor Falls Sweet Hart Inn, will sign her debut cookbook, The Best of Sweet Hart Inn, Sunday afternoon from 2-4 p.m. at Nora’s Novel Niche, a local book venue.

      Suzie has owned and operated Sweet Hart Inn for two years. Known for her Hearty & Healthy breakfasts, Suzie signed with an agent to publish the cookbook last year. Aside from running her bed and breakfast and working on her next cookbook, she conducts cooking classes at the Inn on Saturdays and caters local and regional events with her cousin Sydney Hart, owner of Sugar High Coffee Stop in Harbor Falls.

      A former sous chef for the Mountain View Resort Hotel outside of Asheville, a Blue Ridge Mountains landmark, Suzie works alongside her husband, Brad Matthews, keep the cooking business all in the family. Brad Matthews is owner and Chef de Cuisine of Falls Lake Lodge located on Falls Mountain.

      Nora Patterson, owner of Nora’s Novel Niche, is preparing for a record crowd. According to a press release issued by Ms. Hart’s New York publicist, an announcement regarding an upcoming television opportunity is anticipated.

      Chapter One

      Are you looking for an annual or a perennial?

      That sounded like a question she should know the answer to but didn’t. Looking the sales girl in the eye, Rebecca North replied, Annual?

      Sounds like you’re not certain.

      How she hated being clueless. You’re right. I don’t know. An annual sounds like something I should make an appointment for with my doctor.

      The young girl laughed. Well, you are sort of on the right track. You go to your doctor once a year, right? That’s annually. So a plant that is an annual only comes up once.

      Once a year?

      No. Once.

      Sounds like it should be once a year.

      That’s a perennial.

      Huh?

      It comes up and keeps coming up year after year.

      Oh. Confusing. But sounded like what she needed to get her mother for her birthday. Something that kept coming back. The gift that kept on giving. That’s what I want then.

      Turning, the girl pointed to the left of the nursery. This was the first time Becca had been to Haven’s Hill Nursery at Falls Lake. She knew her mother loved the place—she was always talking about ‘running out to Haven’s Hill’ so Becca felt like she could find something here to please her. Her mother also talked about the two local brothers who owned the place and how she adored them both. Haven’s Hill was the horticulture side of the business, where they grew and sold plants and all that entails—you know, like soil, fertilizer, gardening tools, and such. Falls Lake Landscaping was, well, the landscaping wing. She wondered if each of the brothers specialized in one side or the other. Shrugging, she glanced around the place, wondering where those brothers were about now.

      Becca knew nothing about plants. She knew books.

      The perennials are all back there, the girl finally said, next to the trees and shrubbery.

      Which would also be perennial?

      She grimaced. I suppose you could say that.

      Maybe she should get her mother a tree. You can plant trees in the spring, right? Glancing back to the girl, who had now disappeared, she sighed. She’d ask questions later. Right now, perhaps the best thing she could do was act as if she knew what she was doing, and wander about finger plant leaves or something.

      She had to get a gift today. Her mother’s birthday shindig was tonight.

      Thing was, she had no clue where to start. Becca was a bookworm, not a gardener. Her mother had always had such a nicely landscaped lawn, with flowers and beautiful plants everywhere. Becca’s tiny, second-story apartment in a Victorian in Old Harbor Falls afforded her space only for a houseplant or two—both gifts from her mother. She was lucky to keep those babies alive.

      She wandered the aisles of green, stopped once in a while to fidget with a feathery frond or bend to read the plant names on plastic tabs, only to realize that she still hadn’t a clue what she was doing.

      About the time she was ready to head out, having decided that perhaps yet again she’d get her mother a book she wouldn’t read instead—at least Becca knew books!—she turned to find herself crowded up against a strong, male chest. A chest that wasn’t budging.

      Help you find something? the chest said.

      Becca swallowed hard.

      Well, actually, it wasn’t the chest that spoke, but the mouth attached to the face above the chest. However, somehow, Becca’s hands had ended up splayed flat on that chest and she could feel a quiet thump-thump-thump of what must have been his heartbeat against her palms. At once, her own heart echoed that thump-thump-thump, and she worried that it was beating so loudly, that the chest, er, man in front of her, would hear it.

      This all happened in like 1.2 seconds.

      Her gaze slowly lifted and she met twinkling, hazel eyes.

      Annual, she said. Uh. I mean perennial.

      Hm. Maybe I can help.

      Plant.

      He chuckled. Excuse me?

      Need a plant. For my mother. Birthday. What the hell had happened to her speaking ability?

      He half-grinned. I’m sure we can find something.

      He backed away and Becca finally breathed. Her arms dropped lazily to her sides. He took a few steps to his left and she watched his T-shirted, tight-jeaned body twist and bend—did she really cock her head to the side watching as he did so?—and come up with a nice looking flat of colorful flowers.

      Pretty. She wasn’t talking about the blooms.

      Thanks.

      What are they?

      Pansies. They’re hardy.

      Hardy. Sounded like another term she didn’t know the definition of. Oh.

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