Fourteen-year-old Violet Bell arrives in New Orleans alone from Chile, stalking the father she just recently found she had. Unfortunately, Violet is in the wrong place at the wrong time and witnesses a crime involving a corrupt judge whom her father, the chief of police, is desperate to catch. Violet is picked up by Dominic (Nic) DiLeo's deputy, who reveals to Nic his shock at having a teenage daughter. Her mother Megan became pregnant by Nic and escaped her parents to raise her child on her own, in lieu of adoption, as she was pressured to do by her parents.

Violet, a precocious child, balks at the pushy way her father issues orders and takes control of her every decision. Striving to keep Violet safe until the boy associated with the judge is found, Nic also wrestles with the feelings that have been stirred to life. Megan agrees to take a position in New Orleans as a project consultant for a nonprofit organization. Sorting through their feelings for this new, complex family of loud Italians, Violet and Megan are completely mesmerized by the warm and close knit family. Being a clever girl who thinks for herself gets Violet into a pack of trouble. Now, can the suppressed secrets and feelings of years ago regenerate themselves and give them a chance as a family?

I found this to be a very cute and upbeat story with a young girl on the verge of becoming a woman desperate to create roots and a chance to begin a relationship with the father she never knew. Megan's search for the missing link in her almost perfect life produces the ultimate love and desired fulfillment. I thoroughly enjoyed this courageous and spunky character and her unique relationship with her mother.

Book Summary

Talk about being sucker punched. The runaway kid sitting in Police Chief Nic DiLeo's chair with her feet propped up on his desk belongs to his family—no doubt about it. But her father isn't one of his five brothers.

It's him. She's his daughter with Megan Bell.

Nic was crazy about Megan in high school…until she vanished from his life with no explanation. The bigger secret, however, isn't the daughter he didn't know. It's Megan and how he still feels about her. She's more beautiful now and even more of a temptation. Suddenly the man who wanted to drop commitments is looking for ways to tie himself to Megan…permanently!