A Bowl Lot of Love - Stephanie J. Scott

What happens when your inheritance is a bowling alley in the small town you escaped from? And your last hope to deal with it is your (criminally hot) childhood frenemy?

Noah (aka Noah the girl):

Not even my four best friends, who've stuck by me through back-to-back funerals, can lessen my shock of what's revealed at the reading of my grandparents' will. They left me a bowling alley. That they apparently owned.

Three strikes for me.

The legal docs point me to a little bar in Derby, the tiny town I couldn't escape fast enough after high school. Inside that bar is Simon Faust-the man who sold the rundown Derby Lanes to my grandfather for the astounding price of a single dollar.

Simon owes me. Just like he owes me for stealing the academic scholarship I worked myself to the bone to win senior year. Grudges aren't great, but I'm good at grudges. Simon is my proudest grudge.

I need to offload this bowling alley and fast. My life is in Chicago with a boyfriend who, on paper at least, fits my dream. Stability, security, money. I've learned to rely on no one but myself.

Simon:

Noah bursts back into my life like the whirlwind she's always been. Wild and fascinating. Part of me hoped this would happen. Okay, I definitely hoped this would happen. Noah is my longest and oldest crush.

If only she would hear me out. I sold my tech start-up to create a foundation aimed at revitalizing the town that raised me. Small business grants for local entrepreneurs mean empty storefronts and vacant lots can come back to life. I owe it to my parents, whose business failed through no fault of their own.

As a peace offering, I help Noah go through her grandparents' house-dumpster rental on me. We uncover a box of letters her grandparents wrote to each other when they were dating, along with a cryptic note about treasure. A treasure hunt? I'm in.

But something in Noah's eyes lets on that her life in Chicago isn't as perfect as it seems. She's tough, but there's a crack in that armor. Her faith in people is broken. Maybe I'm the one who can restore it.

A Bowl Lot of Love is an enemies to lovers, small-town, sweet romantic comedy. This is the third book in a series about four friends who find their careers and love lives in need of a major reboot. This book can be read as a standalone.