Maddi DeLuca is coming home for the holidays with her nine-year-old son, only itâs not the triumphant return she might have hoped for. She recently broke down on a reality TV baking show, letting the entire country know she feels like a colossal failure. And she can be certain her mother will remind her of all the ways she hasnât lived up to expectations over the years.
Ten years ago, all Maddi dreamt of was running her fatherâs beloved bakery in their tiny coastal town of Haverberry Cove, MA. Her best friend, Wilder Buenaventura, had his own dreamâa life with Maddi. And for one brilliant moment when they were seventeen, those dreams collided. They baked together. They loved each other insatiably. But like a fallen soufflÊ, their relationship imploded, taking their lifelong friendship with it.
If she had her way, Maddi would have stayed in California, hiding her head in its beautiful white sands. But at her motherâs request, she has returned to her hometown to help deal with an urgent matter concerning her fatherâs will and his nostalgia-filled bakery. What Maddi doesnât know is that this issue also mysteriously involves the one person sheâs spent forever trying to forgetâWilder. Now she finds herself forced to make an impossible decision: give up her fatherâs bakery and her lifelong dream, or find a way to coexist with Wilder without murdering him with a cookie cutter.
Adriana Mather is the New York Times bestselling author of the How to Hang a Witch Series and the Killing November seriesâwith family roots that go back to Sleepy Hollow, the Salem Witch Trials, and the Titanic. Sheâs also an actor and producer and co-owns Zombot Pictures, a production company that makes feature films.