My new next-door neighbor seems to have everything figured out. Small town golden boy? Check. Single dad extraordinaire? Check. Hot baker forearms? I didn’t notice them, I swear. I, on the other hand, don’t–at all–have anything figured out. Trust me, I didn’t think taking over my mom’s dream bed and breakfast in Copper Run Vermont was going to be easy. It should be a good place to heal after my divorce. But apparently my scones belong in the garbage with my small talk skills. As pointed out by none other than Cliff. Cliff is inescapable. He knows exactly what people need–always. His charm, the way he wears flannel, and even his pastries, make not wanting to be friends with Cliff and his daughters pretty hard. Friends? I can make friends. That’s safe. Except I’m leaving in three months to pass the inn off to my little sister and get the promotion in Seattle I’ve been working towards. So ask me why I’m thinking about kissing my hot neighbor.

The walls close in. Hope lies beyond the world’s end. Aethra has no name, no parents, no home. Taken in by a secretive mentor, she’s taught to survive by robbing others of their coin - until the day he betrays her. Saddled with debt even a noble couldn’t repay, Aethra is offered a chance to shake off the underworld elite who hunt her. She must steal the church’s most precious bloodstone on the day of their most holy festival. But Aethra is a con artist, not a thief. When her attempt fails, she’s met not by the headsman but the king. In exchange for her freedom, she’s given a job: Join a team on a quest to travel beyond the world’s end, and find a cure for its decay. A quest sure to end in their deaths. No ordinary men would accept such an offer. Least of all the assassin with a silver tongue and the heretic with dark secrets - but Aethra has no choice but to follow them unto the end.