Things you need to know :) 

Heat level: Closed-door romance (kissing only, no on-page intimacy) with an HEA
Tropes: Small-town Christmas, inherited bookstore, opposites attract
Style: Third person, dual POV

Could love be waiting in an old bookstore in a small mountain town? She’s just here to settle an inheritance and leave. He’s home on a temporary Christmas detour from the life he thought he wanted.

No one is more surprised than Ivy Carlbrook when she inherits her beloved nana’s bookstore. Mostly because she was under the impression her impish grandmother sold it years ago when she moved into a retirement home. Now Ivy finds herself in her grandmother’s mountain hometown in West Virginia a few weeks before Christmas. Her plan is simple: take stock, sort out the admin, and head straight back to the city. What she doesn’t plan on is a neglected building, a romance author on the wrong side of the law, a town refusing to let go of its bookstore, and a very cute deputy sheriff.

Colton Harrison, a sergeant in the Annapolis Police Department, takes a break from his neatly mapped‑out life to help his brother, the sheriff of Rustler’s Ridge, over Christmas. With a fast‑track career and a girlfriend ready for the next step, he’s using the time to clear his head before stepping back into that future. Instead, he finds himself tangled up in a struggling bookstore—and the woman who now owns it.

Between a romance author who crashes into town (literally), a town determined to fight for its bookstore, and a heritage board with deadlines, Ivy and Colton find themselves in an unexpected in‑between space. One where plans shift and staying starts to feel like choosing.

The question is, will they return to the lives they planned? Or stay for the one neither of them saw coming?

A cosy Christmas romance set in the world of Rustler’s Ridge. Perfect for fans of small‑town charm, holiday festivities, humor and bookstores filled with Christmas magic.