Summer at the Bluegill Bait Shop — Amie Denman

When Shasta Cleveland's great aunt chain-smokes her way to the great lounge in the sky, Shasta takes over the family bait shop on the Michigan shore. Jilted in love, she needs a fresh start in her hometown. But she has no intention of offering beer, bait, and a bathroom to the fishing crowd. Appalled by their tacky windbreakers and baseball caps, Shasta resolves to bring the local fishing crowd high quality outdoor apparel. She may not know walleye from hip waders, but that doesn't stop her from pouring her money and her heart into reinventing a bait shop and believing she knows what fishermen should want.

While Shasta waits for customers to pull out their credit cards for her fancy vests and cashmere-lined gloves, Roger Shelton ties his aging fishing boat to her dock. A cop and weekend fisherman who rivals Mr. Darcy in reticence, he's the opposite of the effusive petite blonde hawking overpriced apparel at the store where the sign still says “Bait Shop.” Although Roger's general policy is staying out of everyone else's business and letting them make their own mistakes, he's intrigued by Shasta and her enthusiasm for offering advice to everyone -- whether they want it or not.

As the summer passes, Shasta gets fishing lessons from Roger's brother and learns hard truths about what customers in her hometown want from the shop by the river. As she gradually adds minnows, bait, and a dreaded porta-john for the pleasure of the local fishermen, she also takes on another challenge: melting the ice around Roger Shelton's carefully guarded heart.