Marissa Rutheford is back in her home town of Aqua Dulce, Texas, running her mom's café and flea market in the tiny desert town that's home to barely enough residents to count on two hands. She slaves away at the café each day hoping to sell enough biscuits and gravy, homemade hamburgers and slices of pie to support herself and her mother, Raylene, who has Alzheimer's disease.

Scratching out a living in the desert of West Texas gets even tougher when the town is sold in an eBay auction to a high-roller from Fort Worth. At age 37, Terry Ledger is a legendary businessman and real estate developer with his sites set on turning Aqua Dulce into a mecca for those traveling the desolate highway that runs through town. However, Terry finds that the residents of Aqua Dulce get in the way of his business plans. Before long, he finds himself caring more about the band of misfit residents and their fate than the status of his project.

This story is extremely heartwarming. Anna Jeffery creates a cast of colorful characters that are their own little dysfunctional, yet charming, family. She makes you really feel the emotion of the characters and have empathy for their situations, faults, hardships and shortcomings. She serves up a story about loyalty, perseverance, patience and acceptance, with a side order of passion.

As I was reading this book, I felt like I was sitting on a stool at the café counter getting caught up in the small town gossip, smelling the coffee brew, and devouring a piece of homemade apple pie, which basically describes this book: homey, comfortable and delicious.