Everyone in Willow Creek remembers the night she left.
The whispers. The slammed doors. The boy she broke on her way out of town.
So when she comes back years later-older, guarded, and determined to face what she ran from-the town watches closely. Especially him.
Cole Matthews never forgot her. Not the way she walked away. Not the way she shattered his trust. And definitely not the way she still gets under his skin with a single look.
In a town where nothing stays secret and grudges age like fine wine, their reunion is anything but welcome.
Forced together by small-town obligations, festival planning, and a community that thrives on gossip, old enemies are suddenly sharing space they can't avoid-and tension they can't ignore.
She's sunshine with scars, trying to rebuild a life she once abandoned.
He's gruff, loyal, and still carrying the weight of a betrayal he never understood.
Their chemistry is sharp. Their banter cuts deep. And beneath the anger simmers something far more dangerous than hate-unfinished feelings, unspoken truths, and a history neither of them ever truly let go of.
As walls crack and moments soften, attraction blooms in stolen glances, late-night conversations, and touches that linger too long. But the past isn't done with them yet.
Because the truth behind why she left Willow Creek has teeth.
And when it finally comes out, it threatens to destroy everything they're building.
Hated in Willow Creek is a slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance that delivers: