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The Story Between Us
(2026)(The first book in the Maple Lake Collection series)
A novel by Sarah May Warren and Susan May Warren
Best friend’s older brother. The almost-kiss summer. And one bestselling manuscript that’s years overdue.
Livvie Fox has spent six years being too nice for New York publishing — bringing cupcakes to the man who stole her promotion, watching senior agents take credit for the books she fought for, smiling while the bestseller list ticks past her name and lands on someone else’s.
Then her agency drops the bomb: bestselling reclusive author Ian Rivers is two years past deadline. The contract is about to die. The agency is about to take a hit it can’t afford. And if Livvie can’t fix it, she’s the one out the door.
Someone like the woman who knew him before he was Ian Rivers.
Before the bestsellers. Before the funeral. Before the night on a Maple Lake dock when she told him exactly how she felt and he just stood there, frozen, while every star in northern Minnesota watched her heart break.
Nate Rivers shouldn’t open his door.
Not for the publisher. Not for the lawyer. Not for the woman who walked off his sister’s dock seven years ago and took half the world with her.
But Livvie Fox is back in Maple Lake. With stolen soup. With his sister’s name in her mouth. With a publisher’s deadline that could cost him the only house left where Emma still feels real.
The town is gearing up for the Flannel Festival. The maples are turning. The dogs already love her. And the chapter Nate has been refusing to write for three years is suddenly demanding a co-author.
Some what-ifs deserve a second chapter.
Tropes you’ll love
Livvie Fox has spent six years being too nice for New York publishing — bringing cupcakes to the man who stole her promotion, watching senior agents take credit for the books she fought for, smiling while the bestseller list ticks past her name and lands on someone else’s.
Then her agency drops the bomb: bestselling reclusive author Ian Rivers is two years past deadline. The contract is about to die. The agency is about to take a hit it can’t afford. And if Livvie can’t fix it, she’s the one out the door.
Someone like the woman who knew him before he was Ian Rivers.
Before the bestsellers. Before the funeral. Before the night on a Maple Lake dock when she told him exactly how she felt and he just stood there, frozen, while every star in northern Minnesota watched her heart break.
Nate Rivers shouldn’t open his door.
Not for the publisher. Not for the lawyer. Not for the woman who walked off his sister’s dock seven years ago and took half the world with her.
But Livvie Fox is back in Maple Lake. With stolen soup. With his sister’s name in her mouth. With a publisher’s deadline that could cost him the only house left where Emma still feels real.
The town is gearing up for the Flannel Festival. The maples are turning. The dogs already love her. And the chapter Nate has been refusing to write for three years is suddenly demanding a co-author.
Some what-ifs deserve a second chapter.
Tropes you’ll love
- Best friend’s older brother
The almost-kiss summer (second-chance romance)
Grumpy reclusive author × sunshine literary agent
Forced collaboration (agent × her bestselling author)
Found family + faith arc
Cozy lakeside cabin-country fall vibes
A swoony, second-chance, best-friend’s-older-brother small-town romance from beloved Christy Award–winning bestseller Susan May Warren — perfect for readers of Rachel Hauck, Carla Laureano, T.I. Lowe, and Becky Wade. The first book in Susan’s new Maple Lake series — and the launch novel of Falling for Flannel, Sunrise Publishing’s new multi-author small town romance world. Pull up a flannel. You’re going to want a chair.
Falling for Flannel — some stories are worth coming home for.
Genre: Inspirational