Musician & first love
Jake Campbell
A musician with a guarded heart and unfinished songs. Fifteen years have changed his life, but not everything he feels for Ellie.
Contemporary romance · Revising
Sticks and Stones
Spice level4/5
Fifteen years ago, one lie shattered the kind of love that was supposed to last forever.
Jake Campbell and Ellie Fox were high-school sweethearts with a future full of promises. Now, fate has brought them back together—but longing is the easy part.
Buried truths, old wounds, and a past that refuses to let Ellie go stand between them. Can they rebuild the love they never stopped carrying?
The people between the pages
Meet the characters.
A heart finding its way home
Ellie Fox
Once a bright volleyball star, now a woman carrying the weight of a complicated past. A second chance means finding her voice as well as her first love.
Jake’s best friend
Steve Jones
A bassist with an easy smile and a long history with Jake. He now manages Digger’s, where old friendships have grown into adult lives.
Ellie’s best friend
Katie Thomas
Strong, loyal, and still a force to be reckoned with. Ellie’s longtime friend brings the same determination to adulthood that she once brought to the volleyball court.
Jake’s daughter
Harlow Campbell
Dark hair, honey-brown eyes, and an easy smile. Harlow is an important part of the life Jake has built in the years since high school.
Owner of Digger’s
James “Digger” Talbot
The man behind the bar that connects so many of their lives. A familiar presence through the years, with a rough exterior and a history of his own.
Jake’s grandfather
Pop
A man shaped by a hard life, and an enduring presence in Jake’s family.
Ellie’s mother
Isabella Fox
Elegant, well connected, and exacting. Her expectations have always been a powerful force in Ellie’s life.
Ellie’s father
Benjamin Fox
A warmer presence in the Fox family, with kindness beneath the pressures surrounding his daughter.
Part of the Digger’s crowd
Shane Wilson
A striking pin-up style and a devious streak make Shane hard to overlook—and harder to read.
A past that refuses to let go
Ellie’s ex-husband
His refusal to let Ellie move on complicates the future she is trying to choose for herself.