Tragedy-and her brother's midnight plea for help with his young twins-pulls Cat Hood back home to Galway, North Carolina, in the third book in the popular Cat Rising trilogy.

After five years in Scotland, the place where she'd expected to find both roots and family, Cat is still single (officially), turning forty, and perhaps even more confused and unsettled than when she left North Carolina.

There are good reasons to stay in Galway-and to leave: Her niece, just as angry and independent and contrary as Cat was at that age, is hardly welcoming. Eager as Cat was to reconnect with her best Galway friends, Lily and Hannah, she finds them nearly unrecognizable-and nearly intolerable-given the mad gusto with which they've embraced parenthood. And then there's the reappearance of her high school sweetie and all the bitter memories-and current confusion-her very presence evokes.

But Scotland isn't an easy answer either, and Cat begins to rethink her return when Isobel, once again, refuses to choose between her husband and Cat.

But one thing is clear: Wherever happiness lies, Cat, being Cat, will resist it with every ounce of her being.