If It Makes You Happy

If It Makes You Happy is a contemporary romance novel by Julie Olivia. Originally self-published in 2024, the romantic comedy traces Michelle Cadell and Cliff Burke’s friends-to-lovers romance. Michelle relocates to Vermont to temporarily run her late mother’s inn until her sister can take over the business. Cliff owns a bakery next door to the inn and is immediately taken by his enigmatic, metropolitan new neighbor. The two strike up a friendship that gradually changes how they see themselves and their futures. Written from Michelle’s and Cliff’s alternating first-person points of view, the novel explores Conflict Between Ambition and Rootedness, the Challenges of Starting Over After Loss, and Friendship as Scaffolding for Romantic Trust.

This guide refers to the 2025 Berkley Romance paperback edition of the novel.

Content Warning: Both the source text and guide include sexual content, cursing, and depictions of illness, emotional abuse, bullying, mental illness, substance use, and death.

Plot Summary

After Michelle Cadell’s mother, Birdie, dies, Michelle agrees to take a leave of absence from her advertising job in the city of Seattle, Washington, and to temporarily relocate to the small town of Copper Run, Vermont, where Birdie owned and operated the Bird & Breakfast Inn. Michelle will run it until her sister Sara finishes art school and can take over the business full time.

When she arrives in Copper Run, Michelle is still reeling from Birdie’s death and her recent divorce from Allen. She is disillusioned with the quaint setting and wonders how she will survive three months here. She misses urban life. She also feels pain over the fact that Birdie left the inn entirely to Sara, excluding Michelle from her legacy.

Michelle struggles to orient to the town and inn. She is irritated by the nosy townspeople and frustrated with her ungrateful guests. One day, Sara calls and urges Michelle to ask for help and make friends. Michelle humbles herself and crosses the lawn to greet her handsome neighbor, Cliff Burke. Cliff, who owns Burke’s Bakery, is thrilled to have Michelle in town. He loved Birdie and is eager to have her daughter in the community.

Cliff and Michelle spend time together over the following weeks. Cliff offers Michelle hospitality tips and teaches her new recipes. Michelle gets to know his two young girls, Emily and Brittany, whom Cliff is raising alone. They open up about their lives. Cliff reveals that his wife, Tracy, left him a few years prior to start her life over in New York. They got pregnant with Emily when they were in high school and Tracy never got the life she wanted. Michelle tells him about Allen and her confusing relationship with Birdie, relieved by the opportunity to share her feelings.

By the fall, everyone in town teases them about their relationship, but they repeatedly insist they are only friends. Then, on Halloween, Cliff and Michelle share an intimate moment, kissing for the first time. A distressed cry for Cliff interrupts them: Brittany is injured and Cliff races her to the hospital. Michelle and Cliff go back to being just friends. They deeply care for one another but know their relationship would never work because Michelle is returning to Seattle in December.

When Sara comes to Copper Run for Thanksgiving, she begs her sister to set her up on a date with Cliff. Michelle reluctantly agrees; Cliff agrees, too, to make Michelle happy. While out with Cliff, Sara realizes he is in love with Michelle, and that Michelle is in love with Cliff, too. On Thanksgiving Day, Michelle realizes her sister is right.

Michelle and Cliff confess their feelings for each other and have sex for the first time. In the weeks following, they date in secret. They do not have a future but want to appreciate their time together.

Shortly before Christmas, Michelle gets a call from a former client, offering her a dream job in advertising back on the West Coast. She accepts the offer, but feels confused and sick afterward. Then Sara rolls back into town for the holidays, preparing to take over the business in the new year. Michelle realizes her time in Vermont is drawing to an end.

After Christmas, Cliff drives Michelle to the airport. They say their farewells. Cliff heads home but is overcome by emotion and races back to the terminal. He professes his love and begs Michelle to stay in Copper Run. She reciprocates Cliff’s sentiment and agrees she does not want to leave.

Michelle and Cliff create a life and family together. They stay in Copper Run, running their businesses, raising the girls, and even have another child.