I bought this as soon as it was released (June 2005), having "met" Lani on JCF. I even remembered when it was called "Flipping the Bird." So why did I wait two years before reading this--and read the sequel first? It got lost in TBR Mountain.

Dana Wiley owns a vineyard. Unfortunately, it's currently closed because of sick grapes, so she's working at a nursing home. Events like weddings are supposed to raise the morale of the Alzheimer's patients, and since Dana has her own wedding gown, she gets to play the bride. But one day she slips and calls her fake groom "Nick." Turns out it's the 6th anniversary of what would have been her wedding to Nick Maybe, if she hadn't bolted from the church in a panic. And Dana realizes that was the biggest mistake of her life.

Nick Maybe manages a bar in Manhattan, where he's lived ever since Dana left him at the altar. But now he's decided it's time to move on, and has accepted a job in California with Dana's nemesis, Melanie Biggs, in exchange for her promise to leave Dana's winery alone.

But Babs, for whom Nick occasionally does "favors," has just one more favor to ask: steal a pet bird and make it look like a robbery. Babs, besides being a Character with a capital C, is also Dana's mother.

And the romp is on. Nick and Dana get thrown back together, and in between the zany antics of everyone trying to get the bird, they have to deal with their continued feelings for each other, Dana's fear of marriage, and Nick's feelings of betrayal.

It's nonstop action and laughs with a lovely underpinning of real emotion. And a great introduction to Babs and Finn who show up later in The Comeback Kiss. Which I'm really tempted to re-read. ( )