SHE DOESN’T BELIEVE IN LOVE

When hard-nosed journalist Rachel Greene and charismatic doctor, Gaelen O’Hanlon, meet in Dove Pointe, passion sparks between them. There’s only one problem: Rachel doesn’t believe in relationships—or fairy tales. Haunted by the ghosts of her past, she has built her life around exposing the world’s darkest truths, and love isn’t one of them.

But when Rachel’s latest assignment takes her to Zungamba, the country she fled as a teenager, Gaelen is unexpectedly thrust back into her life, threatening the walls she’s built around herself.

Gaelen is everything Rachel doesn’t want to need—persistent, idealistic, and unshakably kind. Despite her efforts to keep him at a distance, Gaelen sees through her armor, recognizing the vulnerability she fights to conceal. His determination to win her trust is unwavering, even as Rachel’s past threatens to overwhelm her.

HE’LL PROTECT HER AT ANY COST — EVEN FROM HER PAST

Gaelen is captivated by Rachel's resilience and intelligence, but her carefully crafted walls are almost impenetrable. He knows the pain that lingers beneath her fierce independence, and he is determined to be the light she didn’t know she needed. Yet, as Gaelen grows closer to Rachel, he finds himself battling more than just her mistrust. He must also contend with the shadows of her past and the dangerous forces that surround them both.

In a world fractured by war, can Rachel and Gaelen find a way to build something whole?

Caught between the pull of a future she never thought possible and the weight of a history she can’t escape, Rachel must decide whether to risk her heart or lose her chance at love.

Tropes:

• Second chance
• Reverse grumpy-sunshine romance
• He falls first
• Workplace romance
• Black cat-golden retriever
• Morally gray heroine
• Fake marriage (?!)
• HEA