Buns

Clara Morgan rebrands hotels that need a fresh start, and in her spare time she runs marathons and other endurance races. She grew up in foster care and has never built traditions of her own, so the rituals of old family resorts fascinate her. One resort in particular draws her attention: the Bryant Mountain House, known for its secret recipe for Hot Cross Buns.

The resort is in Bailey Falls, New York, and it is charming but run-down. Archie Bryant, a fifth-generation family member and its future owner, is set on saving it from demolition by doing the plain, hard work the old way. His father has hired Clara to overhaul a business that has run for one hundred and fifty years, hoping to draw a younger, faster crowd.

Archie wants nothing to do with her methods. Then some of her ideas start bringing in paying guests, and he has to admit she may have given the resort a real chance of staying open.

This is a contemporary romance between two people who start out on opposite sides of the same hotel. The tone is light and playful, with food and family tradition running through the setting, and the central tension is old ways against new ones.