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) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.