Single mom meets grumpy small-town hardware store owner in this second-chance, found family romance that proves love is worth the risk.

Annie Evans is drowning. With $847 in her bank account, an unreliable ex-husband, and a seven-year-old daughter who deserves better, she walks into Bowen Hardware desperate for any job that will keep them afloat. She's overqualified, underprepared, and has absolutely no idea what a lag bolt is—but hardware store owner Nick Bowen takes a chance on her anyway.

Nick's life is complicated enough: a father losing his memories to Alzheimer's, a son who's learned not to expect people to stay, and a store that's barely breaking even. The last thing he needs is to fall for his new employee—especially one who's clearly just passing through.

But Annie isn't just reorganizing his inventory. She's breathing life back into his family, his business, and his carefully guarded heart. When his quiet son befriends her artistic daughter, when his father lights up at her presence, when the whole town embraces her festival redesign—Nick realizes she's become essential to everything that matters.

Then an eighty-thousand-dollar job offer in Boston forces Annie to choose between financial security and the family she's found. Between the practical choice everyone expects and the terrifying leap her heart demands.

Because sometimes the bravest thing you can do is stay.

Perfect for readers who love emotional depth, small-town community, and romances where broken people build something beautiful together—one borrowed heart at a time.

✓ Single parent romance
✓ Grumpy/sunshine dynamics
✓ Small-town community feels
✓ Found family
✓ Clean & wholesome romance

Borrowed Hearts is the first book in the Borrowed Hearts series, sweet small-town romances about single parents, temporary commitments, and love that lingers long after the borrowed time is up.

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