Hannah Parker is twenty-eight, unemployed, and underwhelmed with the way her life has turned out. She has dedicated years to improving her skills in the culinary arts, despite the setbacks she's faced along the way. Cooking is her second love. First place belongs to her pug, Akili.

Speaking of first loves, Hannah's high school boyfriend, whom she shared a great passion for cooking with, has successfully ticked all of the boxes on Hannah's career bucket list. Now her career aspirations are in his hands, and he seems determined to make an angry Gordon Ramsay look like a kitten.

Hannah has always been a dog lover, though.

Caleb McNamara has been working toward running his own kitchen since he was a teenager. Somewhere along the line, his passion turned into a job, and he's lost his spark. When Hannah walks into his restaurant, throwing him off his game, his only defense is to push her to the brink and hope she quits. Except, he doesn't want her to quit. But what his heart wants isn't important when he has a point to prove.

Things are about to get messy in the kitchen. That's the ugly truth.

This sweet second-chance romance can be read as a stand-alone, or as part of the A New Leash On Life series.