Even her great pitching in a baseball game did little to
raise Gracie Lynne Calloway's spirits. It was her 25th
birthday and this year's milestone brought no relief from
the dread she felt, despite the best efforts of her Uncles
Ben and Artie and her Aunt Alice. Abandoned as a baby
and thought to be the illegitimate daughter of
Rita (Ben's niece), the occasion only brought forward all
her negative feelings about not having a momma or a dad.
Then the totally unexpected happened to scruffy jeans
loving Gracie who lived her whole life being poor in the
small town of Shady Grove, Alabama. A handsome P.I. named
Sam Fontana waltzes into her life and she finds out that
she is not who she thinks she is, but rather is the missing
Katherine Hammond and the heir to a huge fortune in
Connecticut!
Gracie's overwhelmed by this change in events as well as
all the secret dealings that had been hidden from her. She
wants to toss it all away and be plain old Gracie, but a
catch in her father's will and with some nudging from the
wisdom of her Uncle Artie give her a lifeline in this new
topsy-turvy world where even her old friends no longer
treat her the same. But, who can she trust in this new
world of rapacious relatives and meddlesome media?
Lorelle Marinello has pitched a winning début Cinderella
love story with an Alabama twist! There is a strong
storyline with lots of little mysteries as Gracie strives
to unravel all the secrets that people had held from her.
The dialogue between the characteristics is realistic and
humorous as it just pulls you into the warmth of living in
this small southern town. Sam and Gracie are likable
characters and while some of the secondary characters are a
little too much like overblown roses, they seem to enhance
and not distract from this charming story as Gracie strives
to accept who she is while helping others not to salt the
roses of others.
A young woman abandoned as an infant on an Alabama porch is
horrified to discover that she is the missing heiress to a
vast Connecticut fortune—a birthright she is desperate to
reject in favor of her Peachtree Lane roots.
Gracie Lynne Calloway—once left in a coal bucket on a front
porch in a small Alabama town—discovers on her twenty-fifth
birthday that she is the kidnapped daughter of a late New
England financier and heiress to a fortune. When the tabloid
press and her unwanted greedy relatives descend on her, she
has to admit the quiet secure life she's known and loved is
gone for good. As Gracie struggles to stabilize her world
and come to terms with her new identity, she learns that
belonging is not about where you came from but who you are.