Staplers, Sisters, and Settling

Life in Settler, Oregon isn’t what Daelin signed up for.

Daelin doesn’t plan on her life unraveling on a Tuesday morning, but there she is: laid off from her publishing job in New York City, her office and severance pay packed into a cardboard box. To heap insult on top of ground-zero damage, she’s held up at gunpoint in the subway. The thief even takes her stapler. The universe has a wicked sense of humor.

She doesn’t want to need help. It has always been her responsibility to look after others. Despite her bruised pride, her rattled nerves and shattered psyche have her calling her younger sister in Oregon. Hearing the voice of someone who loves her unwinds Daelin the rest of the way, and she confesses her dilemma.

Charming Moon Knight, as devoted to Daelin as Daelin is to her, sends some cash and an offer she can’t refuse: move in with her, figure out her life, and take the open librarian job in town.

Begrudgingly, Daelin accepts. She doesn’t want to burden Charming. She has always been the responsible one, cleaning up the messes left by their whimsical, whirlwind mother. The switch in roles unsettles her, and the move from the biggest metropolis to a dinky town in Oregon no one has ever heard of is daunting.

Daelin never has big dreams beyond establishing a stable life in a big city that offers every indulgence and opportunity. Books and writing have always been her escape, and she has dabbled with writing. She has no plan to stay in Settler long, but the town and its peculiar residents have other plans.

Trust doesn’t come easy, and people rarely get past her walls. But her brother and sister? They’re everything. She would move mountains for them.

Daelin is tall and athletic, definitely built to protect, endure, and take on the improbable. And maybe she will discover there’s more to life than a prestigious job in a big city.

Did I mention she becomes best friends with a ghost and a stick?