Happy After All

A Novel

By: Maisey Yates

Narrated by: Stephanie Rose

When a romance author meets a mysterious stranger, love is the last thing she expects to find in a funny and heartfelt novel about second chances by a New York Times bestselling author.

A city girl leaves her life behind in LA to start over in a small town…

It’s a cliché, but it’s also Amelia Taylor’s life. And her new life as a romance novelist and motelier is going great—until Nathan Hart checks in.

Of course he’s disastrously handsome, thoroughly disagreeable, and seems to be set against Amelia on sight. Of course there’s smoldering tension between them that can’t be ignored. They’d make the perfect enemies to lovers story. It’s one of Amelia’s favorite tropes.

But the man in room 32 seems genuinely broken, and it’s going to take more than romance tropes and wishful thinking to get past his wounds. As a tentative friendship grows into a deeper connection, Amelia and Nathan both realize that facing each other’s painful secrets takes courage. Do they dare take the risk and hope it ends happily after all?

©2025 by Maisey Yates. (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Yates’s protagonists turn out to be perfectly matched as they help each other get over past heartbreak. Readers will have no trouble rooting for these two.”—Publishers Weekly

Grief Magnets ❤️‍🩹

Such a great journey for these two and their grief and their writing. I loved the expository chapter titles and how they all played out. Also, shout out to women authors!

The self-aware protagonist

I love how the author telegraphs each story element while maintaining the emotional believability of the tale.
You’d be hard pressed to find another romance with the gourmet embellishments of fiery natural disaster, Christmas decorations, and flamingo pink,
It all works together to make a sparkling new twist on a beloved genre.

Relatable Story of Loss and Love

When I lost my daughter, Alexandra, I was devastated. I was attached the moment I found out that I was pregnant with her. I had a supportive husband. The main character had no support system. The father of her baby was a piece of work.
The development of this story is slow and steady. I love the build-up. It's a great story, and it does get steamy. Maybe my title should be Slow, Steady, and Steamy.☺️

Loved it!

I loved how most of the chapters had a definition of the plot type that the chapter or next couple chapters, was going to hold

Lovely story about healing

Happy After All is a lovely story about healing from past trauma and learning to love again. The main characters have each suffered the loss of a loved one that has left them emotionally damaged. The FMC coped by running away to a new town and buying a hotel with several senior citizen permanent residents (who are a hoot). The MMC coped by hiding himself away from the world. They meet one summer when the MMC spends several months at FMC's hotel while working on a book. They slowly learn to trust each other and help each other heal.

This is a slow burn love story with medium spice and a happy ending. The MMC is very grumpy and taciturn for much of the book, but comes out of his shell toward the end. There are few triggers (infidelity, death of a child, death of a spouse, difficult childhood) and those all occur in the past.

Stephanie Rose does a wonderful job narrating this book.