The Quiet Proposal: A small town Romance

By Kate Posada

THE QUIET PROPOSAL

A Small-Town Neurodivergent Romance

What if the person who makes you want to stay is the one you're most afraid to love?

Daniel Hayes thought he had it all figured out. After burning out in Boston, he's returned to his hometown of Maplewood seeking peace, routine, and control. Newly diagnosed with ADHD at 36, he's finally understanding why he's always felt like too much and not enough all at once. What he isn't seeking? Love. He's tried that before. It never works out for the guy who needs everything planned three weeks in advance.

Julia Patterson has spent her entire adult life running-from boredom, from commitment, from anything that feels like it might pin her down. As the owner of The Paper Trail bookstore, she's built a life she loves in Maplewood, but relationships? Those never last. She's the girl who gets restless and leaves, every single time. It's just who she is.

Until the morning Julia helps an overwhelmed stranger choose apples at the farmer's market.

What starts as a simple kindness becomes something neither of them expected: a connection that feels different. Daniel's careful routines and Julia's impulsive chaos shouldn't work-but somehow they do. When Julia talks too fast and interrupts, Daniel understands. When Daniel needs transition time for plan changes, Julia makes space. For the first time in their lives, both of them feel seen, understood, and accepted exactly as they are.

But falling in love is the easy part.

Staying requires a different kind of bravery.

When fear and self-doubt threaten to tear them apart, Daniel and Julia must choose: run from the best thing that ever happened to them, or fight for a love that sees their neurodivergent traits not as flaws to fix, but as features that make them perfectly, beautifully compatible.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GM8GRL83
• ISBN13: 9798247075868
• Release Date: February 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 156 Pages
• Weight: 0.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"