The Cinderella Deal

Daisy Flattery is a free spirit who takes in strays and can't resist a good story. Her neighbor, Linc Blaise, is a buttoned-down history professor who works too much. When he asks her to pose as his fiancée, she says yes.

Linc needs a fiancée to land the job he has always wanted, so the arrangement is meant to be a charade with a clear purpose. Daisy is willing to play the part, even though the request is outrageous and the two seem to have almost nothing in common.

The book is a contemporary romance with a comic tone and a fairy-tale frame. It pairs opposites: her warmth and improvisation against his order and ambition. Expect a light, playful read built on the push and pull between two very different people.

Something unexpected happens as the pretend engagement moves toward the altar, and the plan no longer goes the way either of them intended. With the midnight hour closing in, the question is whether Daisy keeps the man she only agreed to pretend for, or whether the fairy tale ends at the stroke of twelve.