Yes, we still exist, and yes, we have a new book coming out!

Culinary school dropout Callie Giordano never intended to wind up in a small town with a terrible name, but after surviving a serious cycling accident in New York City, she needed a change of pace. At 26, she is now the sole doughnut entrepreneur living in Fly-Debate, Maine.

But Fly-Debate isn’t just a one-stoplight town deep in lobster country. It’s also home to the cast and crew of hit historical heist TV series, Hidden Cove. Beckett Brown, its star, may as well have a resume that says 44, single, and nesty, but between his celebrity status and a reputation for falling too hard and too fast, dating feels impossible.

At least until he meets Callie.

That Special Something is a high-heat, queer M/F romance featuring large quantities of sugar, bird watching, and more plastic prop lobsters than you can shake a net at.

This book revisits something we’ve done before — the Hollywood romance — in a way we’ve never done it before, which is as a celebrity/civilian romance. For us, this came less from the fantasy of a fan attaining the unattainable and more from a place of “wow, that looks hard.” In fact, our heroine Callie hates TV and has no idea who Beckett is when she first meets him, and when she finds out, she’s not best thrilled.

One of the recurring themes of this book is the gap between who we are as people who change and evolve and who other people think we are — either because they’ve known us forever but aren’t acknowledging our personal growth or because when one lives a public life there are lots of people with opinions out there who don’t know us at all. I think that’s a relatable experience; social media is just a highlight reel and our parents always see us as much younger, and more inept, than we are.

Meanwhile, although this book is an age-gap romance, our heroine has a thriving business, a secure financial position, and has Been Through Some Stuff. She doesn’t just want to be the heroes equal; she needs him to step up and be her equal.

Things you might want to know about this book:

• Both the hero and heroine are bisexual. They are both cis. The hero has a complex relationship with his gender.
• The heroine is sexually harassed by a donut shop customer at one point and other people in the scene step up to deal with it, which she appreciates but she also notes she could have handled it herself.
• Late in the book, the heroine described the cycling accident she was in and her recovery. This isn’t graphic but the scene is very tense and may be stressful for some readers
• The heroine has a challenging relationship with her family of origin. How to navigate that, including the option of going no-contact, is discussed in places in the book.
• There is a fair amount of discussion about pregnancy and having kids in this book. However, there are no pregnancies in the course of this book, nor are any characters trying to get pregnant or dealing with infertility.

Pre-order is now available on Amazon and will be rolling out to other platforms soon. A paperback release will come in a month or two after the digital release.