
Coming June 16, 2026

What's the book about?

From USA Today and international bestselling author of The Simple Wild comes a sweeping second-chance, forbidden romance set against the rugged beauty of northern Ontario
Emery McAllister once dreamed of leaving Cold River with the boy next door, but one devastating night destroyed their future and left her heart carefully guarded. Twenty years later, she’s built a life of control: running the town’s police detachment, raising her daughter, and keeping a fragile peace with her ex-husband, the mayor.
She’s certain she has moved on until the day she has dreaded—and secretly hoped for—finally arrives.
Logan Landry is home.
After two decades behind bars for being in the wrong place at the wrong time—and the choices that haunted him ever since—Logan returns to his family’s bison ranch carrying the weight of everything he lost, but especially Emery. Friendship is all he dares hope for now, but seeing her ignites a fire he thought long extinguished.
When a teenage girl disappears and old wounds reopen, Logan becomes Cold River’s favorite suspect, despite his airtight alibi. As distrust closes in, Emery must choose between the life she’s built … and the love she can’t let go.
What are the tropes?
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Are you going on tour? YES!
I'll be visiting these four fabulous indie romance book stores the week of release, in between the City Fling event in Austin, TX June 12-13th and The Star of the North in Minneapolis, MN on June 20th.
Stay tuned for visits to Canadian stores, likely this fall.
Get your tickets today (visit store websites for more details):


For those unable to attend one of the store events, we also have preorders set up with select independent romance bookstores across US and Canada. Please visit any of these websites to pre-order your copy
USA:
FLUTTER ROMANCE
BOOKSTORE
(copies at Flutter
will be hand signed)
How about a music playlist and
a Pinterest Inspo Board!

SETTING
Cold River is a fictional small town in northern Ontario, situated on Hwy 11 (otherwise known as the Trans-Canada Highway, a system of routes that will take you across the entire country. In Ontario, it is the northernmost highway.) I drew inspiration from a collection of towns — Temiskaming Shores, Earlton, Englehart, and Cobalt — to create the setting for Cold River, and while it may not exist in real life, by the time you've finished North Country, I hope it exists in your imagination.






