[Gone South 01] • Sweet Gone South

Chocolatier Lanie Heaven has good friends, a booming business, and the adoration of the citizens of Merritt, Alabama. But she also has a secret. After the devastating breakup with her long time college boyfriend, she lost a baby and the hope of ever having a child—the thing she desires above all else.

Though still grief-stricken eighteen months after the accident that killed his wife and best friend, Judge Luke Avery is lonely for the company of someone other than his three-year-old daughter, Emma.

When Luke moves into the apartment above Lanie’s candy shop, Lanie and Emma fall in love at first sight and Luke finds himself along for the ride. It’s so easy for the three of them to slip into a life as sweet as the candy in Lanie’s shop.

But when Emma calls Lanie “Mommy,” Luke realizes things have gone too far; he has to propose to Lanie or walk away. He isn’t ready for marriage, but engaged isn’t married. Lanie eagerly accepts but as the evidence stacks up, she must accept that Luke’s love is not equal to her own.

Can Luke find a way to slay his demons before the sweet life they have created goes completely south?