title: Love Arrives in Pieces
author: St. Amant, Betsy
description: For so long, Stella was known for her beauty. Now, with her heart stripped bare, she must discover who she really is.
  
  Former pageant queen Stella Varland doesn't trust beauty anymore after her divorce. Her appearance betrayed her and led to her brokenness -- so instead of being beautiful, now she tries to make beautiful things, but always falls short. So she keeps her passion for her secret art to herself and focuses on her interior design work. But if she doesn't get another job soon, she'll be stuck living with her parents.
  
  Contractor Chase Taylor is determined to live a life of no regrets after losing his fiancée in a car crash. Now he lives life at full speed, striving to see how much he can accomplish. He knows if he slows down, he'll fall apart. So he returns home to Bayou Bend to renovate the town's old theater, and is shocked to learn former flame Stella is the designer for the project.
  
  Forced to work together, Chase and Stella battle their chemistry and their pasts as they struggle to compromise and come together on a vision for the theater. Chase doesn't understand why Stella is such a subdued version of herself, while Stella doesn't get why Chase thinks he understands her. Their wills clash as they attempt to hide their brokenness -- and their unresolved feelings for each other -- until Chase discovers the hidden parts of Stella, losing her trust in the process.
  
  A near catastrophe, a fire, and a small-town gossip mill finally force both Stella and Chase to realize that they have a choice -- to hold on to the shards of their pasts, or surrender their fragmented pieces to the One who makes a beautiful masterpiece from the broken.