Carved in Love

In the heart of Willow Creek, love is built one careful stroke at a time. When Lena Hartley, the town's gallery owner, returns home to rebuild her dreams, she never expects to find the pieces of her heart in the one man she left behind. Eli Parker, a quiet, gifted woodcarver, has spent years turning raw wood into beauty—but mending the cracks in his own heart has proven harder. Old friendship flickers back to life when Lena asks Eli to showcase his work at the town's summer fair. What begins as a simple collaboration soon becomes something deeper—a connection carved from shared laughter, late-night talks, and the gentle courage of two souls learning to trust again. But as the fair approaches, so do the reminders of the past—the choices that once pulled them apart and the fears that still linger beneath the surface. Caught between what was and what could be, Lena and Eli must decide whether love, like wood, can be shaped and mended into something stronger than before.Set against the small-town charm of Willow Creek, Carved in Love is a tender, slow-burn friends-to-lovers romance about second chances, quiet devotion, and the kind of love that endures the storm and stays standing long after. If you believe that love isn't found—it's built—then this story will stay with you long after the last page.