Twelve years ago, Rylan Carr was Creek Hollow’s golden boy. Wrestling Champion. Devoted Son. Secret Writer. And hopelessly in love with Elle-Gail Booker–the brilliant valedictorian who believed in his stories before anyone else even knew about him. It was the night of their graduation, Rylan was going to propose to Elle-Gail at Pine Pages, the bookshop cafe where they had their first date. Then Elle-Gail vanished. Now Rylan is a bestselling indie author whose best selling novel “The Girl Who Left Creek Hollow” turned heartbreak into a small-town romance readers can’t stop talking about. He was born and raised in Creek Hollow, Montana, writing love stories full of cosy streets, book festivals, and women who always seem to carry a shadow of the girl who left. But Elle-Gail has built a life too. As a famous Bookstagrammer with millions of followers, she had made a career out of celebrating indie authors and beautiful bookish escapes. But when the beloved owner of Pine Pages dies and leaves the struggling shop to her, Elle-Gail is forced back to the one town–and the one man–she never truly escaped. Rylan expects to hate her. Instead, he sees a woman who looks successful, but not happy. As Creek Hollow’s Book Festival approaches, Rylan and Elle-Gail are forced together to save Pine Pages. Old chemistry resurfaces. Old wounds reopen. And when Mabel’s hidden letters suggest Elle-Gail’s leaving was never as simple as Rylan believed, the story he has told himself for twelve years begins to fall apart. In a town built for second chances, two former lovers must decide whether some endings are final…or whether their love story was only interrupted by someone else’s life.
