Among Wildflowers

Sometimes the best love stories bloom where you least expect them.

AVAILABLE JUNE 16th, 2026!

Gimme the Details

Genre: Small Town Romance • Contemporary RomCom

Tropes You'll Love:

  • Fish out of water

  • Small-town romance

  • Steady meets Chaos

  • Opposites attract

  • Forced proximity

  • Veterinarian hero

  • Found family

  • Open door spice

  • Slow Burn

Details:

  • Heat Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

  • Content Warnings: Pet Loss

The Story

She had it all. Then she lost it all. Now she's stuck in a town where designer heels sink into the dirt.

At 28, Ali Bennett had the perfect life—money, status, a jet-setting lifestyle filled with exclusive parties, high-end fashion, and epic adventures across the globe. Her world was glossy magazine-worthy, meticulously curated, and exactly what she'd always wanted.

Until it all came crashing down.

Broke, humiliated, and desperate for a fresh start, Ali finds herself exiled to Lakeside, Wisconsin—a charming (read: aggressively quaint) small town with an over-the-top devotion to wildflowers, no such thing as ride shares, and a pace of life that's the polar opposite of everything she's ever known. Here, gossip travels faster than Wi-Fi, everyone knows everyone's business, and her Louboutins are completely impractical.

She's comically, spectacularly out of her element.

But Ali's never been one to give up without a fight. Armed with her quick wit, unexpected kindness, and a determination to prove she's more than just a rich girl with a bruised ego, she slowly starts winning over the quirky townsfolk—including her infuriatingly handsome, maddeningly practical, frustratingly perfect next-door neighbor.

Jake Elliott is Lakeside's beloved veterinarian and all-around do-gooder. He's earnest, grounded, and deeply committed to his community. He rescues animals, attends book club, and champions wild gardening in his spare time. He's everything Ali's not—and everything she never knew she needed.

On paper, they're a contradiction. Her brand of chaos should be a total turn-off for someone as practical and level-headed as Jake. But the more time they spend together—whether she's helping put Lakeside on the map, or resolving a local business’s inventory crisis he is discovering that beneath her designer armor is someone who's scared, vulnerable, and trying so damn hard—the harder it becomes to ignore the sparks flying between them.

Ali came to Lakeside to hide. Instead, she's blooming.

Opposites may attract, but can a city girl with a shattered past find love—and herself—in a town where wildflowers aren't the only thing that bloom?

Among Wildflowers is a heartwarming, laugh-out-loud romantic comedy about finding home, falling hard, and the unexpected magic of small-town charm. It's about second chances, discovering who you are when everything you thought defined you is gone, and realizing that sometimes the life you didn't plan for is exactly the one you needed.

Perfect for fans of: Sarah Adams, B.K. Borison, Tessa Bailey and anyone who believes that sometimes you have to lose everything to find what really matters.

Every book has a vibe. This one sounds like unexpected second chances, wildflowers blooming against all odds, and falling in love when your whole world has been turned upside down.

These are the songs that played on repeat while I wrote Among Wildflowers—the tracks that captured Ali's journey from losing everything to finding what she didn't know she was looking for, Jake's quiet steadiness, and that delicious tension between order and chaos.

The Soundtrack to Ali & Jake's Love Story

How Among Wildflowers Came to Be

I've always loved stories about people who lose everything and have to rebuild from scratch—not because it's easy or Instagram-worthy, but because it's real. Reinvention is a powerful things. We've all felt like we're not enough. Like we've failed. Like the life we thought we'd have slipped through our fingers.

Ali's story started with a simple question: What happens when the person you've built yourself into isn't who you actually are?

She's not perfect. She makes mistakes. She shows up in too bright of colors, says the bold thing, and is navigating life outside her bubble. But she's trying—and there's something so deeply human and lovable about that.

Jake came from wanting to write a hero who isn't cynical or emotionally unavailable. He's just... good. Kind. The kind of person who shows up when people need him. But he's also someone who's maybe played it a little too safe, stayed in his lane a little too long. Ali shakes up his world as much as he grounds hers.

And Lakeside? That over-the-top wildflower obsession is 100% inspired by small Midwestern towns I've visited where they go ALL IN on their identity. It's charming, it's ridiculous, and I love it.

This book is about blooming where you're land—even when you never wanted to be planted there in the first place. It's about community, authenticity, and discovering that home isn't always a place you come from—it's a place (and people) you choose.

Fun Facts

  • Ali's designer luggage collection is inspired by my own fantasy travel set (if I had unlimited funds and need for all those bags)

  • Jake's vet clinic is based on a real small-town practice I visited while researching

  • The wildflower gardening in Lakeside is loosely based on a Ted Talk by Rebecca McMackin

  • Ali's "crash and burn" backstory? Let's just say I interviewed some people who've lived through hard times in the public eye and came out stronger

  • I wrote the entirety of Chapter 15 while sitting in a coffee shop in a tiny town that definitely could've been Lakeside

  • "I did not want the book to end. It was so vivid in my mind and ignited a vision for sure. I felt a connection and an interest in all of the characters."

    Trisha Pavicich
    Beta Reader

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