Ava Miles, author of the #1 National Bestseller The Chocolate Garden, brings you another uplifting page-turner about hope, the will to start over, and the power of friendship. In this first Friends & Neighbors novel, meet a woman determined to realize her dreams and revitalize a beloved neighborhood with two things she believes most in: hope and chocolate.

From the time she was a little girl with a chocolate stand instead of lemonade, Alice Bailey dreamt of opening a chocolate shop. After all, chocolate heals everything, from heartache to woes.

If Alice has learned anything recently, it's that life is precious. It's now or never—carpe diem time. She's ready to put down roots and live her dreams.

Only opening up a chocolate shop in this close-knit community proves harder than she imagined, especially when other neighborhood businesses are experiencing hard times. She's not only an outsider, but resentment over her circumstances breeds distrust among some of the other business owners.

And as she struggles to heal and rebuild, she shows her new friends and neighbors that life offers more richness than they realize.