This was a sweet, heartwarming story that was fun to read. Elise is a young woman who lived with her aunt after her dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and moved to assisted living. After his death, Elise remained with her aunt, who lost no opportunity to tell Elise how grateful she should be for having her aunt take care of her. Aunt Regina was the town socialite and a bit of a flake, frequently leaving Elise to pick up the slack when Regina moved on from a project. Now, Regina has disappeared, along with the money for a local fundraiser. Elise is doing her best to make the fundraiser happen.

Elise also has no money of her own and prefers being around animals to people. She moved out of her aunt's house and into a fixer-upper, where she is trading repairs for reduced rent. Her landlord is Harris, a local contractor, and house-flipper. Harris is kind and charming and a bit of a flirt.

I loved the opening scene, as Elise and Harris arrive at the house with cat food for the previous owner's feral cat colony. I laughed at Harris's nervousness around the cats and Elise's instructions to him. When they found a little girl's missing cat among the colony, their immediate attempts to catch it were funny. One thing that was evident was that Elise and Harris were attracted to each other but hadn't done anything about it.

I enjoyed watching the relationship between Harris and Elise develop. Elise is very shy and tries to stay in the background of whatever she does. Harris is much more outgoing. I loved watching him draw her out as he involved her in the design work of the houses he was renovating. Elise's aunt constantly put her down, so Harris's compliments and confidence in Elise made her bloom. There are many scenes of them working together and connecting over their partnership. Their attraction continues to build until they can no longer resist it.

As their feelings for each other grow, neither Harris nor Elise says anything to the other about it. Harris recognizes Elise's wariness and doesn't want to push things too fast and scare her off. Elise finds it hard to believe that the handsome and charming Harris would be the least bit interested in her for the long term. When Regina turns up back in town, she picks away at Elise's confidence, causing her to doubt herself even more. I loved Harris's reaction, and though I ached for them during their time apart, it allowed Elise to see who she was and what she wanted. I loved seeing her take charge of her life and enjoyed her big moment at the end.

Watching Elise put together the Furever Yours fundraiser was one of my favorite things. Her cleverness and enthusiasm came out in everything she did, including going outside her comfort zone as emcee. I especially enjoyed seeing more of the puppy, Pancake, and Elise's connection to her.

There was a bit of a mystery involving Regina and her disappearance. The more I learned about Elise and her background, the more I began to suspect what had happened/what was going on. I enjoyed seeing Elise deal with the surprising truth and loved that Harris was there to support her. I look forward to seeing more of them in later books.

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