Gracie Holland can plan the perfect Happily Ever After-unless it's her own. After a soul-flattening breakup, she has rebuilt her life planning weddings at Larkwood-an ivy-covered estate where she also lives. But when her beloved boss passes away, Gracie suddenly finds herself pitted against a love-allergic divorce lawyer who is determined to sell both her place of work, and her home.Jude Larkwood cleans up romantic disasters for a living, so he has no intention of keeping Larkwood as a wedding venue, but there's just one problem: his Nana may have left Jude the estate, but she's left the guest cottage to the maddeningly romantic wedding planner, who has somehow turned his mind into her permanent residence.So, when Gracie proposes that he help her plan her ex's shotgun wedding to prove Larkwood is worth saving, he agrees, but if she fails to convince him by the big day, she'll sell him her cottage. As bickering and cake tastings turn into late-night confessions, Gracie and Jude find themselves breaking every vow not to fall for each other...READERS LOVE NOT THAT KIND OF PROPOSAL'This book was everything I adore in a romance!''I was laughing, swooning, giggling and kicking my feet.''If I could erase my mind and read this book again, I would.''One of my newest favourite romance reads.'
WINNER OF THE ROMANTIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD IN THE DEBUT CATEGORY 2026Popular romance author Margot Bradley has a secret: she doesn't believe in Happily Ever Afters. Not for herself, not for her readers, not even for her characters. When a super-fan leaks this to the world, Margot is dropped faster than you can say 'enemies-to-lovers.'Her sister thinks she needs a change of scene and sends Margot off to a remote Alaskan cabin on a writing retreat that could be the perfect chance to say goodbye to romcoms and write something new - maybe swap meet-cutes for murder mysteries? But then she meets the handsome owner, Forrest:She's a city girl; he's a lumberjack - of course he is.He's grumpy - wait, is she sunshine? Oh no.At least there's no forced proximity.But that snowstorm is heading straight for their cabin...As one trope after another draws them together over long snowy nights, one thing is clear: Margot and Forrest have landed in a romance novel of their very own. But will they each be able to overcome their fears, or risk becoming another of Margot's Happily Never Afters themselves...**Coming July 2026, pre-order the new summer romance by Victoria Lavine, Not That Kind of Proposal**
A bestselling romance author flees to Alaska to reinvent herself and write her first murder mystery, but the rugged resort proprietor soon has her fearing she’s living in a rom-com plot instead in this earnestly spectacular debut by a stunning new voice.Beloved romance author Margot Bradley has a dark secret: she doesn’t believe in Happily Ever Afters. Not for herself, not for her readers, and not even for her characters, for whom she secretly writes alternate endings that swap weddings and babies for divorce papers and the occasional slashed tire. When her Happily Never After document is hacked and released to the public, she finds herself canceled by her readers and dropped by her publisher. Desperate to find a way to continue supporting her chronically ill sister, Savannah, Margot decides to trade meet-cutes for murder. The fictional kind. Probably. But when Savannah books Margot a six-week stay in a remote Alaskan resort to pen her first murder mystery, Margot finds herself running from a moose and leaping into the arms of the handsome proprietor, making her fear she’s just landed in a romance novel instead. The last thing Dr. Forrest Wakefield ever expected was to leave his dream job as a cancer researcher to become a glorified bellhop. What he’s really doing at his family’s resort is caring for his stubborn, ailing father, and his puzzle-loving mind is slowly freezing over—until Margot shows up. But Forrest doesn’t have any room in his life for another person he could lose, especially one with a checkout date. As long snowy nights and one unlikely trope after another draw Margot and Forrest together, they’ll each have to learn to overcome their fears and set their aside assumptions before Margot leaves—or risk becoming a Happily Never After story themselves.
From the internationally bestselling author of Any Trope but You comes an enemies-to-lovers rom-com about a hopeless romantic wedding planner and the cynical divorce lawyer forced to help her plan her ex's wedding.Gracie Holland can plan the perfect Happily Ever Afterunless it's her own. After a soul-flattening breakup, she's rebuilt her life planning weddings at Larkwoodan ivy-covered Rhode Island estate where she lives in the staff cottage (and only occasionally cries herself into a blanket burrito). But when her beloved boss passes away and leaves the estate to her grandson, Gracie suddenly finds herself pitted against a love-allergic divorce lawyer determined to sell Larkwood by summer's endeven if it means crushing his grandmother's legacy and everyone's jobs beneath his polished wingtips. As someone who cleans up romantic disasters for a living, Jude Larkwood has no intention of keeping the estate as a wedding venue, no matter how much he loved his Nana. Selling it is critical for reasons he can't discuss, but there's just one problem: his Nana inexplicably left the guest cottage to the estate's maddeningly romantic wedding planner, who has somehow turned his mind into her permanent residence. So, when Gracie proposes that he help her plan her ex's shotgun wedding to prove Larkwood is worth saving, he agreeson one condition. If she fails to convince him by the big day, she'll sell him her cottage. But as bickering and cake tastings turn into late-night confessions, Gracie and Jude find themselves breaking every vow not to fall for each other. After all, opposites may attractbut can a hopeless romantic and a professional cynic really say ';I do' to their own love story?
A bestselling romance author flees to Alaska to reinvent herself and write her first murder mystery, but the rugged resort proprietor soon has her fearing she’s living in a rom-com plot instead in this earnestly spectacular debut by a stunning new voice.Beloved romance author Margot Bradley has a dark secret: she doesn’t believe in Happily Ever Afters. Not for herself, not for her readers, and not even for her characters, for whom she secretly writes alternate endings that swap weddings and babies for divorce papers and the occasional slashed tire. When her Happily Never After document is hacked and released to the public, she finds herself canceled by her readers and dropped by her publisher. Desperate to find a way to continue supporting her chronically ill sister, Savannah, Margot decides to trade meet-cutes for murder. The fictional kind. Probably. But when Savannah books Margot a six-week stay in a remote Alaskan resort to pen her first murder mystery, Margot finds herself running from a moose and leaping into the arms of the handsome proprietor, making her fear she’s just landed in a romance novel instead. The last thing Dr. Forrest Wakefield ever expected was to leave his dream job as a cancer researcher to become a glorified bellhop. What he’s really doing at his family’s resort is caring for his stubborn, ailing father, and his puzzle-loving mind is slowly freezing over—until Margot shows up. But Forrest doesn’t have any room in his life for another person he could lose, especially one with a checkout date. As long snowy nights and one unlikely trope after another draw Margot and Forrest together, they’ll each have to learn to overcome their fears and set their aside assumptions before Margot leaves—or risk becoming a Happily Never After story themselves.
Gracie Holland can plan the perfect Happily Ever After-unless it's her own. After a soul-flattening breakup, she has rebuilt her life planning weddings at Larkwood-an ivy-covered estate where she also lives. But when her beloved boss passes away, Gracie suddenly finds herself pitted against a love-allergic divorce lawyer who is determined to sell both her place of work, and her home.Jude Larkwood cleans up romantic disasters for a living, so he has no intention of keeping Larkwood as a wedding venue, but there's just one problem: his Nana may have left Jude the estate, but she's left the guest cottage to the maddeningly romantic wedding planner, who has somehow turned his mind into her permanent residence.So, when Gracie proposes that he help her plan her ex's shotgun wedding to prove Larkwood is worth saving, he agrees, but if she fails to convince him by the big day, she'll sell him her cottage. As bickering and cake tastings turn into late-night confessions, Gracie and Jude find themselves breaking every vow not to fall for each other...READERS LOVE NOT THAT KIND OF PROPOSAL'This book was everything I adore in a romance!'I was laughing, swooning, giggling and kicking my feet.'If I could erase my mind and read this book again, I would.'One of my newest favourite romance reads.'
Popular romance author Margot Bradley has a secret: she doesn''t believe in Happily Ever Afters. Not for herself, not for her readers, not even for her characters. When a super-fan leaks this to the world, Margot is dropped faster than you can say ''enemies-to-lovers.''Her sister thinks she needs a change of scene and sends Margot off to a remote Alaskan cabin on a writing retreat that could be the perfect chance to say goodbye to romcoms and write something new - maybe swap meet-cutes for murder mysteries? But then she meets the handsome owner, Forrest:She''s a city girl; he''s a lumberjack - of course he is.He''s grumpy - wait, is she sunshine? Oh no.At least there''s no forced proximity.But that snowstorm is heading straight for their cabin...As one trope after another draws them together over long snowy nights, one thing is clear: Margot and Forrest have landed in a romance novel of their very own. But will they each be able to overcome their fears, or risk becoming another of Margot''s Happily Never Afters themselves...