Summary
Good or bad, the effect our parents have on us is profound. Winning their approval is often key in our lives.

Casey Ellis, the protagonist of Flirting With Pete, knows this all too well. Born after a one-night stand and raised by her mother, she has always wanted to catch the eye of her father. To that end, she went into his field, settled in his city, and appeared at every possible event where she knew he would be. But he didn't acknowledge her once.

As Flirting With Pete opens, he has just died and left her his beautiful townhouse on Boston's posh Beacon Hill. Furious that he has squandered their relationship, she is determined to sell the townhouse. Then she visits and is intrigued by the spectacular hidden garden out back, the dark and mysterious gardener, and a journal in the desk detailing the harrowing tale of a young woman named Jenny Clyde.

Casey's story is woven through Jenny's as Flirting With Pete plays out.

Barbara's Comments
'I wrote the original Flirting With Pete as a novella centering on Jenny Clyde. But my readers expect novels, not novellas. So I created Casey Ellis as the vehicle through which Jenny's story is told. Casey is a go-getter and sensitive, but impulsive. She often acts before she thinks, which sometimes gets her into trouble.

But she does want to please her father, and I know how that is. My mother died when I was eight, so I had her for a very short time. Yet I have spent a lifetime trying to do what I imagine would have made her proud.

The characters in this book speak to me — not only Casey and Jenny, but the gardener, and even the little creature that Casey's father left behind in the townhouse. I also love the garden. Now, I am not a gardener; to the contrary, I am really bad at it. But I did my research and created that garden, and I would go there, figuratively speaking, during the writing of Flirting With Pete and just relax.'