Harvest Moon by Robyn Carr

The provided text is an excerpt from a novel, "Harvest Moon" by Robyn Carr, featuring characters Kelly Matlock and Lief Holbrook. The narrative focuses on Kelly, a chef who leaves her high-stress job at a five-star restaurant, La Touche, due to anxiety and a complicated, non-physical relationship with the married restaurant owner, Luca, whose wife mistakenly believes Kelly is his lover. Kelly moves to Virgin River to stay with her sister, Jillian, where she begins a new romance with Lief Holbrook, a screenwriter and set builder raising his troubled teenage stepdaughter, Courtney, after his wife's death. The story details Kelly's health struggles, her efforts to start a gourmet food business, Lief's challenges with Courtney's rebellion and custody issues with her biological father, and the developing, initially hesitant, love story between Lief and Kelly, culminating in Kelly deciding to stay in Virgin River after Courtney accepts her into their lives.