Penn Romero is a smart girl. Smart girls don't get involved with their professors. ***** It begins with a casual meeting at a speakeasy. It begins with a drink. It begins with a stolen stare. It begins with the not-knowing, the secrecy, the sneaking around. Penn Romero hardly knew what she was getting into when she was drawn in by Chase Steele's magnetism, and she hardly knew he'd be her new Film Theory professor. Against everything she's ever known, against everything she should do, she stills falls into a dark spiral of manipulation that keeps her trapped in a spider web, losing sight of who the real Penn is--all that's left is what he has made of her and all he's taken. It ends with him taking and taking. It ends with the should've-knowns. It ends in ruin. ***** THIS IS NOT A ROMANCE. DON'T ADD THIS TO ROMANCE READING LISTS, PLEASE. [[THE AMBYS 2024 TOP PICK IN CONTEMPORARY]] © 2021 caterina george // all rights reserved

- Book 1 in The Evermount Springs series - When her mother unexpectedly passes away, Eloise Somerset leaves behind her job as a small-time baker, apartment, and city girl lifestyle to return to her mother's hometown. The town her mother always talked about but never visited. The more she sees the town and it's people, the more she starts to wonder if it is where she was meant to be all along. It's also there, that she meets the handsomest man she's ever laid eyes on. Drew Owen, a grumpy dreamboat, the town winemaker and... her temporary housemate. If just staring at him makes her knees weak how will it feel like to live with him? There's just one problem. Drew Owen doesn't want her there, but what if he realises that she's just what he was missing all along? TW: Death of a parent (only mentioned) Body image issues (only mentioned a few times) Kidnapping TROPES: - Small town romance - Grumpy but actually a softie MMC - One bed - Roommates - Little bit of dislike to love - Romantic tension RANKINGS: #14 in Country #4 in Small town romance