Lanterns, Load-Bearing Walls & Love Songs: A Romantic Comedy

By Dalton Douglas

Elliot Hart doesn't do chaos. He does structural integrity, municipal code, and the kind of quiet competence that keeps ceilings where they belong. So when he's hired to inspect a historic meeting hall ahead of Dalton's beloved Lantern Walk, he expects a straightforward job: measure, certify, leave town before anyone tries to put him on a committee.

Then he meets Dante Kim.

Dante is the Lantern Walk's unofficial mastermind-part craft gremlin, part community conductor, and somehow the only person in Dalton who can make "fire safety plan" sound like foreplay. He's cheerful. He's relentless. He has a mop bucket that literally has a warning label with his name on it. And worst of all... he listens.

As permit deadlines tighten and the town's matchmaking moms circle like they've found fresh meat, Elliot finds himself stuck in the exact kind of warm, meddling small-town machine he avoids at all costs. But between late-night walk-throughs, carefully negotiated boundaries, and the slow realization that being seen doesn't have to mean being trapped, Elliot starts to wonder if the safest thing in Dalton might actually be staying.

A cozy, funny, slow-burn M/M romantic comedy about competence, consent, community chaos, and the kind of love that holds-without cracking.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GJRVZLY5
• ISBN13: 9798245560236
• Release Date: January 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 276 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"