Every Beat After (Proper Romance Contemporary)

Every heartbeat is a gift Liv Karlsson refuses to waste—except, apparently, on the infuriating new neighbor who seems determined to make her life impossible.

Years after a life-saving heart transplant, Liv pours everything she has into her family's cozy Swedish bakery, finding purpose in flour-dusted mornings and the warmth of a community that feels like home. But mounting debt and the ever-present shadow of an uncertain future leave her asking a question she can't quite shake: is she truly living, or just surviving one borrowed day at a time?

Then Hunter moves in next door, and suddenly Liv has a whole new problem. He's guarded, frustratingly private, and seems to bring out the worst in her at every turn. She doesn't trust him. He clearly doesn't want to be trusted. But as winter settles over their small town and circumstances keep throwing them together, the sharp edges of their rivalry begin to soften into something neither of them planned for.

Hunter has his own ghosts—ones he's spent years outrunning—and Liv knows better than most how quickly everything can change. Letting someone in feels reckless. Falling for *him* feels impossible.

But hearts, as Liv has learned, don't always follow the rules you set for them.

*Every Beat After* is a tender, beautifully crafted clean contemporary romance about second chances, hard-won healing, and discovering that the life you're fighting to protect might be even richer than you imagined.