The Author Next Door

By Annika Stone

She constructs perfect crimes. He writes perfect love stories. But the truth is something lost in the coffee grounds.

Bestselling mystery author Vivienne Sterling catalogs the world in clues: the sharp angle of a liar's jaw, the cold draft of an empty room, the bitter tang of an unsolved puzzle. She knows how to decode anything-except the infuriatingly quiet man who edits textbooks at her favorite Green Arbor caf .

But when a spilled coffee reveals the manuscript he's hiding, Viv unearths a secret that doesn't fit into any of her case files. The alluring stranger is actually "Evelyn Rose"-the most celebrated romance author in the country.

Ethan Hayes has spent years retreating behind a female pen name, wrapping himself in fictional happily-ever-afters to escape the ghosts of his own past. His reality is carefully, safely constructed. But when his world collides with a too-perceptive mystery writer, he is forced to face the one thing he fears more than the past: being truly seen.

There is something about the bruised light of the city afternoons that changes when they are together.

As their professional boundaries blur and their personal walls begin to crumble, Viv and Ethan find themselves processing an emotion neither has successfully mapped into an outline. They must decide if protecting the cold architecture of their solitary lives is worth losing the terrifying, unscripted reality of each other.

Sometimes, the best love stories aren't the ones we publish. They're the ones we live.

Find your next favorite escape. Read The Author Next Door-a contemporary opposites-attract romance filled with atmosphere and heart.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GQQ7CLVS
• ISBN13: 9798900679136
• Release Date: March 2026
• Publisher: Wondrous Publishing
• Length: 222 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.3" x 8.0"