Clara Jacobs is a woman who has built her life around literature. As a literary editor, she spends her days poring over the works of others, and as a reader, she loses herself in the pages of romance novels each night. Clara believes that the love stories she finds within these pages are safer than the messiness of real relationships, and she has built a fortress around her heart that is guarded by the inked words of her favorite male characters.

But when Clara meets Ethan Bennett, the charming owner of a local bookstore, her world is turned upside down. Ethan shares Clara's passion for literature, and his warmth and authenticity stir emotions in her that she never knew existed. Despite her best efforts to resist him, Clara finds herself drawn to Ethan in ways that she never thought possible.