The Jeweler — Beck Anderson

Fender Barnes profits from an institution he doesn't believe in: marriage. He's a talented designer, but a reluctant jewelry store owner, thanks to his pop's retirement. He's cynical, he's jaded, he's not entirely certain about the concept of love, but he's happy to sell an eager young guy an engagement ring for his fiancée to be -- until moments after the transaction when that eager guy is hit by a car and killed, and Fender's conscience pays a rare visit. He retrieves the ring and decides to find the woman his customer intended to marry. That woman turns out to be Ginger Stevens, twenty-something ski instructor, who -- despite being full of guilt and self-doubt after the death of her boyfriend -- is someone Fender finds he quite enjoys being around. He's smitten. Which is all well and good, except that after he meets her, Fender can't do it. Though it's right there in his pocket, he can't tell her about the ring. Instead, he embarks on a long, ridiculous quest to find a way to tell her the truth he knows she deserves. Aided by advice from Pop and the antics of his best friend Sam, Fender tries desperately to juggle his budding romance with the reality he knows could ruin it. Will he find love or foul it up? Can Ginger move out of the past to embrace what the future has to offer? Meet this unlikely pair in Beck Anderson's heartfelt and fabulously funny second novel, The Jeweler.