First published 2014
Olivia Holloway moves to Edinburgh hoping for a new beginning. Her crippling shyness around men has held her back, but when she meets stunning postgraduate student Nate Sawyer, something shifts. They become close friends, and Olivia finds herself sharing her most private thoughts with him. Desperate to overcome her romantic inexperience, she asks Nate to help her learn the basics of attraction and dating. He agrees to become her teacher in matters of the heart. Their lessons grow more intense as friendship transforms into something deeper and more complicated. Olivia discovers she can open herself to love, but Nate carries secrets from his past that threaten their connection. Just as Olivia realizes she has fallen completely for him, his history catches up with them both. Nate must choose between running away as he always has or staying to fight for what they have built together. Olivia faces her own test of courage, deciding whether she can be brave enough to hold onto the man she loves.
Genres: romance, contemporary-romance, new-adult-romance
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Edinburgh, Scotland
Period: 21st-century
405 pages · Paperback · Penguin
Content warnings: anxiety, depression, mental-illness