Hushed Meridian: A Small-Town Romantic Suspense Novel

In a town built on comfortable lies, digging up the truth will cost them everything-including their second chance at love.

Twelve years ago, a deadly crash on Chapel Ridge Road was officially ruled an accident on black ice. But everyone in Meridian Hollow knows the truth: the road didn't freeze. It collapsed under the weight of toxic industrial waste that the town's wealthiest family quietly buried beneath decades of silence.

Marisol Vega has spent years guarding the secret file her late brother died trying to expose. Running the Hollow Weekly from the forgotten harbor side of town, she is determined to drag the cover-up into the light-even when a freshly severed piece of the rusted guardrail is left on her porch as a warning to back off.

Then Eli Mercer returns.

The estranged son of the mill's ruthless patriarch, Eli fled twelve years ago to escape his family's complicity. Now home to face his dying father, he refuses to play the quiet heir any longer. Teaming up with Marisol means crossing the town's bitterest divide, risking his inheritance, and facing the unresolved passion they both tried-and failed-to outrun.

As break-ins, whispered threats, and shadowy surveillance escalate into real danger, their fragile alliance sparks into an irresistible flame. But in a town where silence is currency, exposing the foundation of Meridian Hollow could save their future-or bury them both for good.

Tropes & Key Themes:

• Second Chance Romance

• Small-Town Secrets & Cold Case Investigation

• Wrong Side of the Tracks / Class Divide

• Investigative Journalist Heroine & Protective Hero

• Corporate Whistleblower & Environmental Thriller

• High-Tension Forced Proximity & Slow-Burn Heat