Until the Storm Breaks

A Small-Town, Grumpy Sunshine Romance (The Midnight Men, Book 1)

By: Nate Wilder

Narrated by: Stephen Dexter, Callie Dalton

He's the brooding literary darling who swore he'd never come home. She's the bar owner who can't afford to fall for someone who's leaving. Coming home was his first mistake. Falling for her was his second.

Calvin Midnight arrives in Dark River with one goal: settle his mother's estate and disappear back to Seattle. But the small Washington town he abandoned has other plans—starting with Maren Strand, who owns the Black Lantern bar and lives in the cabin on his family's property.

Maren's built her life on being everyone's safe harbor, pouring drinks and keeping her own heart locked away. Now the Midnight estate might be sold, taking her home with it. She should hate Calvin for what his family could cost her. Instead, she finds herself watching him work shirtless on the porch, bringing him coffee, and forgetting why falling for a temporary neighbor is a terrible idea.

He writes devastating prose about grief but can't speak his own truth. She fixes everyone's problems except her own. Now they're stuck in side-by-side cabins with paper-thin walls, dancing around an attraction that proves that the fiercest storms happen between two hearts afraid to collide.

Until the Storm Breaks is a steamy, slow-burn contemporary romance featuring forced proximity, grumpy/sunshine dynamics, and just enough push-and-pull to make you scream 'kiss already!' First in The Midnight Men series—where every love story leaves a mark.

©2025 Nate Wilder (P)2025 Nate Wilder

I don’t write reviews often.

10/10. I really recommend this story. I don’t write reviews often… but this is worth the read.

I’m a big reader. Like… I’m running out of decent options for romance, type of reader. The last few books I started, I didn’t finish because the character development and storyline weren’t up to par for me.

This book? It’s the best book I’ve read in a while. I am LOVING this author. I can’t wait to see what else Nate Wilder publishes! I am reading the rest of this series, unfortunately it’s not available in Audible yet—but I have the epubs from Kindle U!

Finally a male romance author..

I really was excited to see this book written by a man so I wanted to see how he presented his POV on a romantic relationship. I was not disappointed at all. Read it and find out why I gave a 5 star review.

Great story... looking forward to the others in the series!

The male narrative was really good. However, I must say that the female narrator did project the 'sunshine' half of the promised 'grumpy-sunshine' couple pairing. Her delivery in this piece was so flat that Virtual Voice could have produced lines with more infliction. That is sad because it changed the whole portrayal of the character.

Oh my word

Well, that was something! Intensity of my blushing, has created a whole new shade of red🫢👌

Good mostly…

I love the buildup and getting to know these characters. Had sufficient spice I would say 3 🌶️🌶️🌶️, it broke down for me at the part where he discovered what her tattoo said. I find this unrealistic that you’re sleeping with someone for weeks and don’t bother to look at their tattoos. In addition at that point in their relationship, she should have already showed him what it said, and he should have been OK with it, knowing her true intentions. The ending was just neatly tied up which isn’t very realistic either. Other wise the characters were pretty interesting.