Crazy, Stupid Love

Lincoln Bennett grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, with parents who gave him nothing and clothes passed down too many times. He stole to feed his sister and fought to keep her safe. He still thinks of himself as the guy no parent wants at the dinner table.

For now he is Adley Allen's secret. She is his best friend's little sister, and he sleeps with her knowing he has nothing to give back but a broken past. Most days he accepts that arrangement without complaint.

Then comes the day he doesn't. Lincoln wants to be around for Adley's wins, from her first job to the dinner after her first shift. He wants to be the person she calls on a bad day, a great day or an ordinary one.

The story is narrated by Lincoln in first person, in a rough, self-lacerating voice. It is a romance built on a friend's-sister dynamic and a hero from a poor background. What it turns on is whether a man who is sure he can't keep a woman like her will let himself try.