SOMETIMES IT TAKES A DISASTROUS DETOUR TO FIND YOUR FABULOUS.
When Julia Brighton, twenty and fresh out of college after graduating early, lands a job as Writing Center Administrator at Heywood High, she feels an unsettling mix of relief and regret. After all, she turned down a prestigious graduate program at Harvard after a debilitating breakup, her mountain of student debt looms large on the horizon, and her alcoholic father still isn't speaking to her after unfairly blaming her for her brother's death in a motorcycle crash.
It's easy for Julia to dive into the rhythms and routines at Heywood High. And then, amid those rhythms and routines comes eighteen-year-old Caden McCaffrey, a popular senior boy who proves distressingly adept at disrupting everything. Stunned by Caden's intellect, maturity, and fierce protection of a bullied student in his class, Julia finds herself drawn to him in concerning ways. Caden is, after all, a student at her school; a chasm of ethical proportions separate them.
But as Julia tutors him throughout the semester, he slowly reveals himself to her: the fact that he recently lost his brother, too; how he's found solace in a strong yet simple faith. And "The Fabulous Miss B", as the students call her, finds her romantic heart – raised on Audrey Hepburn and Jane Austen – fast approaching a cliff.
Caden could burn to ashes everything Julia has worked toward...or he could ignite a fiery confidence within her that lights her way to a life of significance.