tussle_lotus2x
- Reads 1,151
- Votes 7
- Parts 54
When seventeen-year-old Orla Murphy leaves her hometown of Mullingar, Ireland, for a fresh start in California after the heartbreaking loss of her dad, the last thing she wants is more change.
Determined to keep smiling, she hides her grief behind jokes, endless chatter, and a sunshine personality that convinces everyone she's doing just fine.
Everyone... except the boy next door.
Malachi Barton is quiet, sarcastic, and perfectly content keeping to himself. Being neighbours with the loud Irish girl wasn't part of his plan-especially when she's constantly dragging him into conversations he never asked for. But somewhere between shared walks to school, late-night talks, and the nickname "Sunshine" that starts as a joke, he begins to see the parts of Orla that no one else notices.
As an unlikely friendship grows into something neither of them expected, Orla discovers that healing doesn't mean forgetting, and Malachi learns that sometimes the brightest people are carrying the heaviest hearts.
A slow-burn neighbours-to-lovers story about grief, healing, first love, and finding home in the people who choose to stay.