San Francisco attorney Cecily Chang is ready to tackle the New Year head on, so she creates a list of resolutions guaranteed to reboot her life—right after her dutiful visit home to Sunset Park, Brooklyn, for the Lunar New Year. Cecily prepares to face her critical, meddling mother, nosy relatives, and the chaos and drama family togetherness brings. At least the food will be delicious. This holiday, Cecily vows to remain calm—as long as she doesn’t see him.
Jeffrey Lee deeply regrets how he ended things with Cecily ten years ago, but he felt it was best for her at the time. When he runs into her again during the New Year, he sees it as a sign. Now a successful screenwriter, Jeffrey is determined to win back Cecily’s heart.
But Cecily doesn’t believe in signs or second chances and embraces her new resolutions. This time, Jeffrey won’t give up—and he’s convinced he can write them a new Hollywood happy ending.
Please let me survive the next five days without losing my temper, or wanting to kill anyone. And please, please, please don’t let HIM be there.
Six hours later, Cecily was walking through baggage claim, ready to head outside to hail a cab to make her way to Brooklyn. She couldn’t help but be smug at all the poor suckers waiting by the carousels while she sailed through with her carry-on. Her phone was blowing up with missed calls from her mother. She rolled her eyes and was digging it out of her purse to call her mother back, when she rammed into a solid wall of muscle. A pair of arms reached out to steady her. Already mumbling an apology, she didn’t notice that the wall of muscle had gone still.
“Cecily?” The voice was deep, incredulous, and all too familiar.
No, it couldn’t be. Cecily stifled a curse as her fingers dug into her palms. She looked up and sure enough it was him.. Damn it all to hell.
All that praying had been in vain after all because there he was. Jeffrey Lee, in the flesh, plain as day. Crap.
Resolution 1—broken. She hadn’t gone looking for drama, but drama sure as hell had found her.
***
Jeffrey couldn’t stop the goofy grin from spreading across his face. It was as if fate had handed him a second chance and dropped it right into his lap. He couldn’t have written a better meet-cute if he’d tried. “Of all the gin joints, in all the towns,” he murmured.
The deep brown eyes that he hadn’t been able to forget for ten years glared at him. Truth be told, Cecily had been glaring at him like that since they were both in diapers, and the familiarity of it all was a soothing balm. He’d always believed the opposite of love wasn’t hate, but indifference. If the glare was anything to go by, she wasn’t indifferent. It wasn’t ideal but he’d take it.
She looked like a little elf bundled in her puffy winter jacket and red pom-pom hat. A scowling elf radiating hostility and aggravation. Definitely not the image one wants of Santa’s little helper.
“What are you doing here?” she blurted.
He raised a brow. “I imagine the same thing you are.” At her blank expression, he elaborated. “Home for the New Year? Command performance? To play the dutiful son, the epitome of filial piety?”
“I don’t remember you being here last year.” She’d noticed his absence. He was going to take that as a good sign.
“There were…extenuating circumstances.”
“Must have been, for Pam ayi to let you off the hook.” She raised a brow. Technically there was no blood relationship between their families, but Cecily still called his mother “auntie.”
He coughed awkwardly. “Yeah, well.” Hoping to avoid that minefield, he quickly changed the topic. “We should head out. My Uber is going to be here in a few minutes.”
The same blank expression.
“Jet lag hitting you hard, is it?” he teased.
She frowned. “I never said I was going to share a car with you. I can get my own cab. Or take the subway.”
“You’re going to take the subway? All the way to Brooklyn? I don’t think so.”
Cecily bristled. “I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I’ve been doing it for a while now.” The unspoken “You of all people should know, you big jackass” hung in the air between them. She turned to leave, and he shot out an arm to stop her.
“Well, consider getting a free Uber ride as me paying my penance.”
She cocked her head, and gave him the side-eye. “One Uber ride and the slate is wiped clean? Really?”
“A guy’s gotta start somewhere. The road to forgiveness can be long—might as well try to navigate it quicker with an Uber ride.”
Jeffrey saw her fight a grin and knew he’d won when she let out an exasperated huff of breath. He gave himself a moment to savor the hard-won victory. It was rare for anyone to win against Cecily Chang. He’d consider that as rare as a yeti sighting.
“I want it on the record that I am only accepting your offer under great duress. And because I am too tired and jet-lagged to fight with you about this.”
“Always the attorney.”
“You bet your ass.”
As a financial analyst, Rachel Bai is more comfortable with numbers than people. When her boss promotes her to head a team in San Francisco, his message is clear—she has one year to build a successful team and become an effective leader. Rachel sets out to discover how to be more comfortable interacting with people, but a drunken night meant for research results in a mechanical bull ride and a one-night stand with a sexy stranger—definitely not part of her plan.
Attorney Luke Trudeau is intrigued by the mysterious woman who’s determined to put their night together firmly in her rearview mirror. So when Luke sees Rachel again, he proposes a deal: he'll smooth out her rough social edges and teach her to charm clients if she’ll help him devise a financial plan to open his own practice.
It seems like a win-win, but Luke breaks the rules by falling in love. Can he convince Rachel that what they have is real and, when it comes to love, there are no set rules?
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Lisa writes light contemporary romantic comedies with a liberal dash of snark and banter. She enjoys delving into the complexity of Asian and immigrant family experiences, and celebrates female friendships in her trademark dry, witty style. As an Asian-American author writing own voices Asian American stories, Lisa hopes that her books will show the diversity of the Asian-American experience, and the importance of every reader being able to see themselves represented on the page.
Having grown up in Pennsylvania and helping out at her parents’ restaurant, Lisa has never bothered to learn to cook. She has two liberal arts undergraduate degrees and a J.D, and in her former life she was an intern, then Legislative Assistant for a PA State Representative. She also worked as a paralegal at a boutique law firm. Lisa is a politics junkie (don’t get her started on the wonder that is The West Wing!), indulges in naps whenever possible, and believes Netflixing in her pajamas and ordering take out qualifies as the perfect weekend.
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This sounds fun with a lot of good banter!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great read. I love the cover!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great read. I love the cover!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good read
ReplyDeleteThis is a great book!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a fun read.
ReplyDelete