Part of Clover Lake
First published 2025
Ramona Riley has been pouring coffee in Clover Lake, New Hampshire for twelve years. She gave up her spot at a prestigious art school after her father's car accident left her family needing help, and her dream of designing costumes for Hollywood films quietly calcified into something she tries not to think about. Then a big-budget romantic comedy rolls into town to shoot on location, and Ramona lets herself wonder. That wondering gets complicated fast. The film's star is Dylan Monroe, daughter of rock royalty, Hollywood's favorite tabloid fixture, and the girl who gave Ramona her first kiss. Dylan is in Clover Lake trying to prove she is more than a famous last name. She takes a shift at the café, spots Ramona, and asks her to show her how ordinary people live. Ramona agrees. Dylan does not yet know who she is. Ramona remembers everything. As the two women spend more time together, old feelings and new ones tangle up with the separate futures both of them are fighting for. The question the book sits with is a real one: can two people help each other reach their dreams, or will wanting different things pull them apart?
Genres: fiction, romance, contemporary, adult, adult-fiction, contemporary-romance
Vibes: bittersweet, emotional, intimate, reflective, tender
Tropes: forced-proximity, friends-to-lovers, reunited-lovers, second-chance-romance
Setting: Clover Lake, New Hampshire, Hollywood
Period: contemporary
384 pages · Paperback · Berkley