Purple Hearts

When a soldier with a past full of secrets and a struggling songwriter agree to a marriage of convenience for the military benefits, neither expects much after saying “I do.” But when tragedy strikes, it becomes hard to tell what’s real and what’s pretend in this charming romance perfect for fans of Nicholas Sparks and Nora Roberts. Cassie Salazar and Luke Morrow couldn’t be more different. Beautiful and enigmatic Cassie is a struggling artist, working nights at a bar in Austin, Texas to make ends meet while pursuing her dream of becoming a singer/songwriter. Luke is an Army trainee, about to ship out for duty, who finds comfort in the mental and physical discipline of service after a difficult time in his life. But a chance encounter at Cassie’s bar will throw them together in ways that they’d never expect. Cassie has been barely getting by financially ever since discovering that she has diabetes. Even with her basic insurance, she’s drowning in medical bills. Added to her worries are concerns for her mother, who’s getting older and has no one else to look after her. So when she runs into old friend Frankie, now enlisted in the Army, she proposes a deal: a marriage license in exchange for better insurance for Cassie, and Frankie will keep the increased paycheck he’ll get now that he has a “family” to look after. Frankie says he can’t help her because he has a girlfriend, but to Cassie’s surprise, Frankie’s annoyingly intense friend Luke volunteers to marry her instead. Unbeknownst to Cassie, he desperately needs the money to pay off his drug dealer from before he got clean. The two of them make a pact: they’ll get married for a few months, make the money they need, and then get divorced when Luke has returned from duty and the time is right. But when a devastating injury overseas throws Luke back into Cassie’s life, they must make their marriage seem as real as possible to army personnel or risk being sent to jail for fraud. Will they be able to fool everyone with their marriage or will their marriage end up fooling them?