Jacqueline O’Neil has a recurring dream that she’s on fire, and not in a good way.

Concealing her nightmare past and less-than-auspicious upbringing with a veneer of high-end clothing, Jac’s determined to prove herself the antithesis of her alcoholic mother. On a long overdue holiday in the heart of Otago, the clothing designer is given space to re-evaluate her life, but the instant the downstairs tenant arrives all thoughts of relaxing go up in flames. Jonno Thompson—builder and one time one-night stand—has been the proverbial pain in Jac’s ass for two years now, and it looks like he’s just been warming up.

What the hell does he think he’s doing, crashing her vacation?

If Jonno had known he’d be met at the door by a feisty hell-cat wielding a kitchen knife, perhaps he would’ve re-evaluated his urgent need to escape his all-femme family. Forced proximity fuels the powder keg just itching to explode between these two polar opposites, but the more information Jonno coerces out of the self-made, take-no-prisoners redhead, the more he realises they’re alike… Much more alike than either of them would like to admit.

Gritty secrets are enticing to unfold, but they can also unravel the very fabric of a person and tear them apart. What's that saying about courting danger? 'Feel the fear and do it anyway…’ Jac's becoming a master at it.


🏆 🏆 Finalist in the RWA Sapphire Award and runner up in the RWNZ Pacific Hearts Award, 2 PEAS is the first book in Stephanie Ruth's Boutique Series set in blue-collar Aotearoa, New Zealand. Intended for readers who enjoy their enemies-to-lovers romance on the steamy side, with the promise of a happily ever after, this full-length novel incorporates a gritty multicultural backstory. It also deals with both the difficulty of maintaining sobriety, and the hardship of building trust in adulthood when it wasn't possible during childhood.

Reader discretion advised, this novel deals with historical and on-page insobriety and alcoholism. Historical child endangerment, neglect, and abuse. Historical industrial accident—burn.