Just when life seemed its darkest, Samantha found happiness—Pascal, and his 10-year-old son, and the rigors of country life—in an unexpected trip to France

When Samantha Brick’s life started to unravel—her company in liquidation, homeless, penniless, and friendless, and on max-strength anti-depressants—it seemed that everything was going wrong. But a chance week away in France led to the most unexpected of all turn-arounds: a whirlwind romance with gun-toting, stubborn, and ever-so-macho Pascal. It wasn’t until she moved in to his cottage in the beautiful Lot region in southwest France that she realized how shamefully ill-equipped she was for the country life. Like Cinderella in reverse, Samantha had to learn to cook, clean, chop wood, and keep house, as well as discovering how to be a stepmother to Pascal’s know-it-all 10-year-old son, and finding love and happiness along the way.