A Mile in My Flip-Flops A Novel

Thirty-something Gretchen Hanover is stuck. Seeking solace from a broken heart, she traded her wedding plans for home improvement shows and ice creambut she knows she can't live on Ben and Jerry's forever. She also knows that her enthusiastic Lab puppy has outgrown her tiny apartment. The perfect patch for Gretchen's dilapidated plans? She'll become a first-time house-flipper. As ideas go, it's daring and genius. She'll take out a short-term loan, buy a fixer-upper, renovate it, resell it, and use the profit for an adorable house of her own. What could be easier? But Gretchen's plans to flip quickly flop when the house turns out to be in worse shape than she expected. She is relying on her retired contractor-father, but he wants to draw in his carpenter friend Noah Campbell. And although Noah is handy with tools, Gretchen isn't so sure about the baggage he brings with him. Will she be able to loosen her grip on the tools when it seems Noah may be her only help? A whimsical look at color swatches, mismatched curtain rods, and the building of relationships,A Mile in My Flip-Flopsreminds us that it takes faith to renovate the heart, as well as the home.

Melody Carlson is the award-winning author of more than 200 books for adults, children, and teens, including Finding Alice, Crystal Lies, On This Day, These Boots Weren’t Made for Walking, and the Notes from a Spinning Planet series. Melody has two grown sons and lives in central Oregon with her husband and her chocolate lab retriever. A full-time writer, she enjoys skiing, gardening, camping, and biking in the beautiful Cascade Mountains.