Last updated on 10/21/2026
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Laurie Gilmore, comes a brand new small-town romance set in the quirky town of Maple Hollow!
The closer the proximity, the stronger the spark…
Phoebe and Theo have been best friends for years, never anything more, despite the sparks between them. And after ignoring her desire for so long, Fee has become adept at ignoring their connection.
Until now.
Because when Theo invites her on a road trip, Fee can’t say no. But the only thing separating them on their journey is the heated tension in the cab of his truck…
Acting on their attraction might change everything for Fee and Theo, but is it a risk they’re willing to take?
Review:
After finishing Big Bad Wolf , I *needed* to find out what had happened/was happening to Lena, Ruby’s sister…which is the third (untitled, at this time) book. We find out here–kind of. Eventually. But first we have Phoebe and Theo’s road trip, there’s only one bed, friends to lovers romance.
Which…I love friends to lovers. And road trips! And close proximity/there’s only one bed. I liked Theo and Fee in the first book, and of course wanted them to be together at last. So why did this book take me 6 days to finish? It definitely had its fun parts, and there were lines that I highlighted (mostly ones that made me giggle). But overall this book felt a bit like a placeholder? Something to keep us occupied until a book without a release date (beyond spring 2027) or even a cover gets published.
This book also relies heavily on keeping the truth from your (they don’t admit it for ages, but everybody and Fee’s mother know it’s true) fated mate in order for the book to happen. For a while the things Fee would do to throw Theo off the scent was lightly entertaining. But it was also keeping Ruby from knowing where her sister was, which was beyond wrong, and the way that Fee kept Theo from searching for Lena the last fateful night was just straight up HELL NO. Even the fact that they’re fated mates and “had” to end up together makes that one hard to swallow.
So I gave it four stars, which isn’t a bad rating because I didn’t dislike the book–but I also didn’t *love* it. I honestly think if we had gotten a friends-to-lovers, road trip, close proximity romance between these two that didn’t involve so much straight up lying and keeping Lena’s sister–who we all got to know so well in book one–in a state of panic for more than 200 pages, a book that was just them turning their friendship into more and getting over his childhood trauma together, that book I think I would have rated higher and read faster.
Speaking of wanting to read like I don’t have to work in the morning–where is Callie and Sawyer’s story? Why did it feel like we should have already read it when they showed up together in the first book???
Rating: 4 stars / B+
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
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