From USA Today Bestselling Author Ellie Hall this prequel to the Home Sweet Home series contains bonus chapters and a small town map!

You know it’s bad when you have to give up chocolate to pay the bills.

I’m flat broke and desperate, but the word can’t isn’t part of my vocabulary. I’m all too familiar with shoulda, coulda, woulda, however, you won’t hear me say cannot or any of its variations. No, siree.

I can do anything except for improve my finances. So it makes perfect sense that I, Louella Belle, would compete to become Mrs. Fix It, the new cohost, on the popular House and Landscape channel’s home improvement show, Mr. Fix It.
Too bad the limits of my handywoman skills involve duct tape and thumbtacks. Shh. No one needs to know that.

Onscreen, Mr. Fix It, aka Bo Boone, is a stud and our chemistry is as blazing as the southern sun. However, when the cameras stop rolling, he cools off quick. When I learn why, I want to patch up his heart. Don’t worry, I won’t use duct tape or thumbtacks.

My efforts are about as effective as me replacing a wax ring on a toilet, flushing everything down the drain unless Mr. Fix It can live up to his name, forgive me, and get over his past.

She has her guard up. He’s never let his down.

I’m an admitted Type-A go-getter. If there are goes to be gotten, I’m the one to get them. Or something like that.

Don’t get me started on how my knack for interior design is a cover-up for my internal struggle—anxiety and I are old frenemies. I probably shouldn’t think about my dysfunctional family, either. Everyone has one of those, right? And lastly, we won’t discuss how I’m officially in my forties and not exactly where I expected to be in life.

Where is that, you wonder? On the set of the new House and Landscaping TV show Designed to Last. It was the brainchild of my besties and me.

#Ladybosses

Except there’s one problem and his name is Buck McDermott. The Viking-like blacksmith who I have to work with in order to transform this dump isn’t going to last much longer if he doesn’t obey the @DomesticDiva aka, me, Christina Abernathy (I even have an official blue checkmark on my social media).

My project. My rules.

But he wants to rule this roost. Isn’t that adorable? The six-foot-five, red-haired, and bearded beast thinks he can best me? Bwah ha ha. Plus, he’s too much like my ex.

Because there’s one thing I know for sure, even though Designed to Last is the name of my show, relationships don’t. There’s no such thing as a happily ever after. Well, he does do this one cute thing with his lips when he’s concentrating on hot molten metal.

But we won’t talk about that either...or our secrets. Nope.

The Do Not Stay Inn is getting a second chance but will Camellia and Nash?

It's bad enough I’m suddenly allergic to chocolate. I know, a travesty. But body chemistry changes with age...turns out, so does the heart.

What’s nominally worse is I spent my life savings on an old inn smack dab in the center of the quaint small town of Butterbury, Georgia. The plan was to feature it on the Christmas special of my home improvement show, however, the property turned out to be little more than a lump of coal.

I wouldn’t mind burning it to the ground, but my besties who I do the show with see potential. I’m a realtor, so usually, I have an eye for a diamond in the rough, but this one got me good.

They bring in renowned businessman Nash “the Gnasher” Crandall to help bail us out. I, Camellia Calloway, can pick myself up by my own cozy slipper straps, thank you very much. Anyway, he’s more like Nash Scrooge with the miserly way he destroys small businesses...and hearts.

Yes, we have a history. Years ago, he got me good too. It’s a shock to learn he’s a widower and has an adorable son. But that won’t convince me he’s on Santa’s nice list. No, I refuse to agree to his proposal that I pose as his fake girlfriend in order to save Christmas and the inn. As they say, fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice...

...And we end up in front of an evergreen tree, baking cookies, and then I find myself in his arms under a sprig of mistletoe.

But the question is, do I return the kiss?

Is there such a thing as a meet ugly?

Let me back up a beat. At a party last month, I thought I’d met the one: Mr. Mysterious. Mr. Handsome. Mr. Grooves. We danced together, flirted, and had fun. Bess + Cassian = Forever. Then I never heard from him again.

Still single, I officially move to Butterbury. True to form, I arrive with a bang. As in crash-boom-bang. My trusty but rusty pink Cadillac slides sideways into an Escalade. That particular SUV belongs to Mr. Angry. Yes, the same mister.

To say that was the beginning of an unfortunate series of events is an understatement. I learn that my services aren’t needed at the job that brought me to town. My rental floods, and I accidentally douse the mayor with a bucket of water.

Okay, the last one wasn’t entirely innocent, but he uses his power to torment my family and friends. Who’re amazing by the way. My siblings offer to bail me out. However, I’m here to make my way and not take handouts—they’re already full of makeup brushes and hair styling tools.

Oh, and there aren’t any openings at the local salon. So what’s a resourceful gal like me to do? Take a job as a housekeeper. It comes with room and board. To my shock, it’s for Mr. Cassian Megabucks. I mean billionaire. I mean Mr. Cassian Smith.

The guy I wanted to be my Mr. Right. Then, in addition to cooking and cleaning, he asks me to be his fake missus to a wedding. It’s a magical, unforgettable night. But he does forget me. Again.

We’re opposites in every way, but maybe after I dust away these cobwebs I can makeover his heart and convince him to give love a chance.