Just ask Cezanne (just "Anne" if you please. Anne with an E) Montgomery. After her disastrous business breakup with her best friend, Anne left her beloved Berned Books in the dust and moved across the street to the building she'd always wanted for their bookstore. Clock Tower Bound might be small and floundering, but it has great potential.

If Berne, Indiana can support two bookstores that is.

Enter Milton Coleridge and his trusty parrotlet, Atticus (not finch). Anne is certain that Milton can ensure the success of a bookstore that emphasizes reader-author connections and keeping the younger generation in good literature.

Milton... isn't so certain. A town with a population of just over four thousand isn't exactly a gold mine for one store, much less two! And then there's that problem with the ex-best friend. The one Anne won't talk about.

It'll take a lot more than fancy book release parties to make the store profitable--much more. Though he's not sure she wants to hear that. This project could take a degree in diplomacy. Too bad he missed that class in business school.

Three fractured friendships, two stores, and one totally unwanted solution.