Back Cover Synopsis

Hattie Davis is Louiston born and bred, and she is determined never, ever, ever to leave Louiston again.  So determined that she sold her car and shredded her driver’s license.  She now lives in the apartment above her mother’s high end patisserie shop, the Apple Orchard Bistro.  Hattie is happily single (she’s also promised herself that she’d never fall in love again too) and has deliberately done everything she could to keep herself unattached.

But when Hattie learns that she is being transferred from Pine Grove State Park (perfectly located in the mountains just behind Louiston) to Egret Pointe State Park(on the other side of the state), she quits because she swore to herself that she would never, ever, ever leave Louiston again.  And of course, the day she quits her dream job is the day her mother, Daphne, closes her dream business, the Apple Orchard Bistro which has only been in her family since Louiston was founded.  

Hattie, surrendering to the pressure from two of her best friends, secretly buys the Apple Orchard Bistro with her friends Ada and Dreamah.  And, together, they work to reopen the business as the Bear Box Diner so Hattie can stay in Louiston.  Which would be great except Hattie doesn’t know how to cook.  And she’s too stubborn to ask her mother for help.  

Enter into this mix a new Louiston arrival, a young man named Dakota who, after living most of his life as an unwilling nomad, moves into the apartment across the street from Hattie.  And, of course, he notices the strong-willed, single woman who brazenly tries to open a restaurant when she has no clue what she’s doing.  And, of course, he becomes Louiston’s newest health and safety inspector and the Bear Box Diner is nothing more than the home to a feral cat who doesn’t understand that she is not supposed to want to live inside the restaurant.  And it doesn’t help that every time he tries to get close to Hattie, she shoves him away and closes herself off because she will never ever ever fall in love again.  

Welcome to Louiston, a small town tucked in the Appalachian mountains and nestled in the crook of where two rivers meet.  Founded in the early 1800’s, Louiston has grown from a resupply town on the route toward western expansion to a town whose economy was hinged on the coal mining and lumber industries.  But as time changed, the town started to flounder until a new mayor and an imposing woman took the town by its reins and helped issue in new businesses.  Now Louiston is a thriving community with a endearing collection of people who all hope to build a happy future for each other.  Or at least to keep Hattie from burning down Main Street when she learns how to make pancakes.