Sharp Tongues, Soft Truth

Some loves burn hot. Others cut deep.

Rachel Ryder left Hawkins chasing ambition-and came back wearing success like armor.

Now a newly appointed dean at the Braintrust Medical School, Rachel expects a polite welcome, professional respect, and emotional distance from the town she once outgrew.

What she doesn't expect is Holly Henry.

Holly stayed. She built a life, raised their daughter, and became a quiet constant in a town that remembers everything-including the way Rachel left, and who paid the price for it.

When past wounds collide with present power, old chemistry ignites into sharp, unfiltered honesty. Words become weapons. History resurfaces in public places. And Hawkins watches closely as two women who once loved each other are forced to confront whether love can survive pride, regret, and the cost of leaving.

Sharp Tongues, Soft Truths is a high-verbal-heat sapphic romance about second chances, chosen vulnerability, and the courage it takes to let yourself be seen-especially by the person who knows you best.

A standalone novel in the Hawkins series, this is a story about love that doesn't erase the past... but finally tells the truth about it.