Hollywood Lakes Magical Midlife

Shay Atwater is a talent manager in Hollywood with a knack for making dreams come true. But somehow, she's never quite found her own. At 44, she fears she's running out of time—especially in Hollywood where women of a certain age become invisible. She needs a reset, and settling her grandmother's estate is the perfect opportunity for a getaway to Hollywood Lakes, the idyllic town where she spent summers in childhood. But when her BFF, Avery, shows up begging to use her grandmother's inn as a movie location, what's meant to be a vacation turns into anything but.

Since moving to Hollywood Lakes, Shay's life has been full of surprises—like the mysterious crow gifts she keeps finding on her porch and her childhood summer camp turning into a getaway for adults. It's all cocktails and crafts until Color Wars begins, and Shay learns her former nemesis is captain of the opposing team—even meaner now than she was then. Shay's determined to win . . . until word witch duty calls.

When Shay's longtime crush takes her to an '80s movie marathon to celebrate her forty-fifth birthday, she's sure nothing can spoil their romantic do-over. But things get radical when the entire audience becomes trapped in an '80s mall—acting like teenagers and living out iconic scenes from their favorite films. Hormones and angst make for a disastrous first date, and Shay wonders whether Finn really is the one who got away . . . or if it's time to let him go once and for all.

When Shay reopens Hollywood Lakes Inn, her biggest worry is whether the plumbing in the 200-year-old house will spring a leak. But as she readies for her first VIP guest, she's caught in flashbacks that never happened—memories so vivid she wonders if she's losing her perimenopausal mind. With no time to dwell, she focuses on Porter Nichols, the famous screenwriter renting the entire second floor. He's got a script to finish and a terrible case of writer's block. When an unexpected guest arrives along with some disgruntled muses, Shay suspects his problem is magical in nature.