The Start of Something Good

Probst (Any Time, Any Place) serves up a mélange of love, loss, and loopy livestock in this thoroughly charming contemporary set in bucolic upstate New York. Public relations whiz Mia Thrush—under duress—heads from Manhattan to Gardiner, N.Y., to babysit a key client’s adult daughter, Chloe, who’s been arrested and sentenced to community service. Being out in the middle of nowhere is pretty much this Gucci-wearing, no-carb-eating urbanite’s worst nightmare. Ethan Bishop, a former special forces operative turned bodyguard, is fighting more literal nightmares due to his PTSD. Mia and Ethan get along like sand in a bathing suit until they realize their animosity is a smokescreen for explosive passion. But the city girl and the country boy struggle to see eye to eye. Entertaining senior citizens and a rescue chicken who thinks he’s a dog provide comic relief, while the plot is pure romance comfort food. Probst’s sexy and sweet protagonists complement this well-paced tale. Agent: Kevan Lyon, Marsal Lyon Literary. (June)