What happens when the woman who writes perfect love stories can't find her own?
Bestselling romance novelist Catherine Rose (writing as C.A. Duvall) has built an empire on her gift for scripting heart-stopping passion and happily-ever-afters. But behind every steam-filled page, her real life is a guarded fiction. She pours desire onto the page while refusing to let anyone near her own heart.
When Catherine attends her cousin's wedding, she never expects to be the one captivated by a stranger. There, over flutes of Prosecco and a shared bottle of Chianti, she meets Enzo, an Italian wine importer living in the UK, whose easy charm and deep blue eyes seem to see straight through her pen name. Their first conversation crackles with unspoken tension and wit, but Enzo vanishes, leaving her breathless and bewildered.
The very next morning, she bumps into him by chance at her favourite coffee shop. They spend an unforgettable evening together, a dinner of pasta and fine wine, laughter under dim bistro lights, and a first kiss charged with all the longing she's ever written about. Yet when Catherine's past trauma creeps back, she cripples her newfound hope. Gripped by fear and convinced that opening her heart means reliving old wounds, she cuts Enzo out of her life, no calls, no messages, nothing.
With a looming deadline pressing down on her, Catherine returns to the only refuge she knows, her writing. She throws herself into her next romantic manuscript, determined to channel every ache and desire into words. After handing in what she believes is her most electrifying draft yet, she impulsively books a flight to Lisbon to escape, to breathe, to forget.
In Lisbon, fate intervenes once more and Catherine runs into Enzo again. Can she trust herself to live the romance she's only ever penned? But just as Catherine allows herself to hope, she receives word of a publishing mistake, one that threatens to unravel everything she's worked for. A single error exposes more than just words on a page, and Catherine finds her career teetering on the edge.
In this intoxicating, contemporary romance you'll find: - A scorching contemporary romance of Catherine/C.A. Duvall, a bestselling novelist whose flawless love stories mask a woman terrified to surrender her own heart.
- A jaw-dropping publishing mistake that risks everything Catherine's worked for, one she uncovers only when it's already too late.
- An emotional journey of self-discovery as Catherine must confront the trauma she's buried and decide whether a second chance at love is worth risking her career and her heart.
Will Catherine overcome her fear and let Enzo in? Can she recover from a mistake that exposes more than she ever intended? Her most daring chapter is about to begin, are you ready to turn the page?
StorytellerUK2025
