This summer Harper Sheridan is looking for something new—love.

As a librarian at Morrison College and a talented amateur musician, Harper has spent the last nineteen summers searching for her passionate, authentic self. Writers, painters and other artists she has sought out as her friends and role models fill her life in California’s diverse and fascinating Bay Area. But personal fulfillment continues to elude her.

During an intense summer romance with vibrant, young Chelsea Nichols, Harper thought she had finally found what was missing. At the end of that summer, however, Chelsea returned to her ex. Harper catalogued the experience under Life Lessons and slowly healed her broken heart.

Now, it’s summer once again, with all the promise of new beginnings. It’s looking like a summer of surprises when Harper’s runaway teenaged niece shows up in the most unexpected of places—Chelsea’s house. That’s when Harper realizes that not all the surprises will be pleasant ones.

From the author of Waltzing at Midnight comes a story of music and love told through a lifetime of summers, when one woman must decide how much of her heart she will risk for the ultimate prize.