The Vet's Accidental Date: A Cozy Smalltown Romance of Casseroles and Grumpy Vets (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798245153162)

Portia Ricci came to Honey Creek to find a "pivot," not a ditch. As Boston's premier event planner, she's spent years perfecting her "City Armor" and "Statue Hands." But when she swerves to avoid a legendary ginger bull and crashes her yellow Mini Cooper into a veterinary clinic, her carefully curated life officially hits a roadblock. Now, she's stranded in a town that smells of woodsmoke and gossip, with a high-stakes job offer back in the city that requires the one thing she's currently lacking: a stellar reputation.

Dr. Grant Heath, the town's most reluctant bachelor, likes his life like his surgery: sterile, structured, and silent. Known to the locals as the "Grumpy Vet," Grant has built a fortress around his heart to keep out the "tourists" who eventually always leave. He's managed to fend off the town's "Casserole Siege" of matchmaking neighbors for years, but his defenses are crumbling under the weight of his latest audit.

When Grant needs a distraction from his past and Portia needs a reason to stay in Vermont, they strike a fourteen-day deal: Fake Dating. It was supposed to be a simple transaction-no mess, no feelings, and definitely no noise. But Honey Creek's resident matchmaker, Hamish the Highland bull, has other plans. When the thousand-pound beast invokes the "Love Knot" legend and blocks the only bridge out of town, Portia and Grant are forced to face a truth more terrifying than a difficult birth in a blizzard.

As the "Fake Dating" contract blurs into late-night barn calls and shared cider donuts, Grant must decide if he's ready to trade his silence for her beautiful chaos. And Portia must choose: will she return to the polished life she built in Boston, or will she finally get her hands dirty for the man who taught her that some parades are worth joining?