For Quinn Collins, buying the flower shop in downtown Harbor Pointe fulfills a childhood dream, but also gives her the chance to stick it to her mom, who owned the store before skipping town twenty years ago and never looking back. Completing much-needed renovations, however, while also competing for a prestigious flower competition with her mother as the head judge, soon has Quinn in over her head. Not that she’d ever ask for help.

Luckily, she may not need to. Quinn’s father and his meddling friends find the perfect solution in notorious Olympic skier Grady Benson, who had only planned on passing through the old-fashioned lakeside town. But when a heated confrontation leads to property damage, helping Quinn as a community-service sentence seems like the quickest way out—and the best way to avoid more negative press.

Quinn finds Grady reckless and entitled; he thinks she’s uptight and too regimented. Yet as the two begin to hammer and saw, Quinn sees glimpses of the vulnerability behind the bravado, and Grady learns from her passion and determination, qualities he seems to have lost along the way. But when a well-intentioned omission has devastating consequences, Grady finds himself cast out of town—and Quinn’s life—possibly forever. Forced to face the hurt holding her back, Quinn must finally let go or risk missing out on the adventure of a lifetime.

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About the Author

Courtney Walsh is a novelist, artist, theatre director, and playwright. Her debut novel, A Sweethaven Summer, hit the New York Times and USA Today e-book bestseller lists and was a Carol Award finalist in the debut author category. She has written two more books in the Sweethaven series, as well as two craft books and several full-length musicals. Courtney lives in Illinois with her husband and three children. Visit her online at www.courtneywalshwrites.com.

Guest Post from Courtney Walsh

It’s funny where inspiration can come from. An overheard conversation in the line at the bank. A story filtered through generations. A rumor that, if true, would make a juicy story… inspiration is everywhere.

Even in the movies you watch with your kids.

When I first started “plotting” (I put that in quotes because I don’t really plot, but I do have a loose map of where I’m heading) Just Let Go, I had a few ideas about my opposites attract love story that I really loved. I knew I wanted to explore the idea of accepting an apology you never got, and I wanted to take a deeper look at how we can’t really move forward until we let go of the past—and I knew I wanted my hero to be an adrenaline junkie who’d never really had to work for his success. You know those types of people…everything comes easily for them. They’re practically born on top.

And that made me wonder, what happens to someone like that when their bright light starts to flicker?

As I was brainstorming the story, a writer friend of mine pointed out that there were similarities to the Disney/Pixar movie Cars. My hero, Grady Benson, was in a predicament a lot like the one Lightning McQueen finds himself in. I’m a huge fan of Pixar movies, so I liked this as inspiration for one of my novels. I found that Grady’s character is a bit like Lightning’s, though his journey is different.

It was fun to think through that cartoon, which I’ve seen a million and two times, from a story perspective. I gained a new appreciation for the incredible storytellers at Pixar.

Inspiration really is everywhere, and writers are always watching and listening for it. I guess I never expected those countless viewings of cartoons to influence my writing, but a good story is a good story, animated or not.

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