THE SWEETEST HOURS is a heartwarming, life affirming, laugh-out-loud funny meditation on the many different ways we live and love. Starting with the clever and hilarious βGus Hunts for a Job,β where love for a meaningful life takes center stage, to βSecond Nature,β in which the smart but not stunning girl falls for the hunky lifeguard and sets herself the task of becoming a modern day Scheherazade to romance him, and finally, βThis Santaβs For Hire,β where love means keeping alive a dream, Pedersen takes the reader on a compelling journey through a variety of original and delightfully unpredictable relationships. Whether the pairing involves a woman and her Alaskan mail- order groom, a guy and his dolphin, or a girl and her mission to save the world, youβll laugh, youβll think, youβll pour a drink.