New York Times bestselling author Patricia Rice writes what readers of romantic fiction love most-irresistible stories and unforgettable characters bursting with life, humor, and deep emotion. . . .

Although home is a dusty curiosity shop filled with rainbows and crystal balls, Maya Alyssum's past has not been filled with good fortune. Her impossible dream is to open a school where kids can find unconditional love and acceptance, the very things she never had as a child. The town council of Wadeville, North Carolina, is determined to stop her until the day Axell Holm walks into her shop. He's the kind of uptight authority figure she loves to hate . . . and hates to love.

Axell knows trouble when he sees it. But he needs the ethereal schoolteacher and the magic she works on his motherless daughter. He's willing to face the wrath of his hometown to get what he wants, but he's unprepared for his reaction to this strange and wonderful woman who turns his ordered life upside down, making him believe in dreams again. . . .