WHAT’S INSIDE THIS PACKAGE
⭐️ Story Premise — high-concept pitch, elevator pitch, and K-Lytics market validation with dual-category positioning and competitive analysis
⭐️ Complete Codex — full story bible with main characters, supporting cast of 6, Copper Hollow Oregon setting, Sal y Tierra restaurant setting, six-week joint-column timeline, dual first-person voice system with distinct verbal patterns for Sloane (observational, precise, a critic’s eye turned inward) and Marco (spare, tactile, says more through food than words), relationship progression, steamy intimacy guidance, and series seeds for 3 future books
⭐️ Chapter-by-Chapter Outline — 28 chapters + epilogue with emotional beats, word count targets, scene breakdowns, and six-week ticking-clock structure
⭐️ AI-Ready Chapter Prompts — detailed writing instructions for every chapter with tone, pacing, heat-level progression, and distinct voice guidance for alternating POV
⭐️ Marketing Copy — Amazon listing with categories and keywords, back cover copy, social media posts, newsletter announcement, reader magnet concepts, and series launch strategy
⭐️ Full Implementation Guide — step-by-step instructions from first draft to publication including pricing strategy, cover direction, and series readthrough strategy
THE REVIEW THAT RUINED EVERYTHING
Sloane has three years of airtight anonymity as a restaurant critic and one review she’s never stopped second-guessing — one star, no name attached, the kind of verdict that closes doors. Marco Reyes rebuilt his family’s restaurant from his father’s failure, and that review nearly cost him everything.
Then their editors pair them for a joint column, and on night one, a regular gets too close to the truth. Marco panics and calls her his girlfriend. Sloane doesn’t correct him.
Before the six-week arrangement can run its course, there’s his grandmother Rosa bringing her tea without being asked, Saturday mornings at the farmers market where the performance stops somewhere between the apple stand and the parking lot, a dish that’s been off the menu for fourteen years because he can’t tell if keeping it back is grief or cowardice, late nights after close when neither of them moves toward the door, and the moment she says maybe you’re waiting for a reason and watches something in him crack open.
Sloane built a career on staying hidden because visibility has always felt like a liability she can’t afford. Marco has spent fourteen years proving he’s not his father’s failure, and admitting he might be ready for something new means admitting the fight isn’t over. The final column goes to print Monday, and Sloane has a draft saved in a folder labeled “not yet” — her real name at the top.
Fake dating, small-town Oregon, and a chef who says everything that matters with two plates of staff meal instead of words. The kind of book where the wrongest possible way to meet someone becomes the reason you can’t stop reading until you know if honesty wins.
WHY THIS WILL SELL
→ Small Town Romance sits at 5.6 sales-to-comp (Hot Mainstream) with 102 daily sales per top 20 title — the strongest single category lane available for this premise
→ Dual-category stack with Contemporary Romance (4.9 sales-to-comp, Hot Mainstream) at 85 daily sales gives legitimate positioning in two high-volume categories simultaneously
→ Fake dating stacked with identity reveal and a ticking clock is one of the highest-converting trope combinations in romance — compounding tension that sustains reader investment across the full arc
→ Foodie/chef setting differentiates from saturated small-town-bakery romance — sensory and aspirational without repeating the genre’s most overused backdrop
→ Built-in dramatic irony (“she wronged him before she knew him”) keeps readers rooting for honesty the entire book — drives compulsive page-turning and strong word-of-mouth
→ 4-book Copper Hollow series with planted seeds in Book 1 creates strong read-through revenue potential from the first release
TROPES:
• Fake dating
• Grumpy/sunshine
• Secret identity
• Identity reveal
• Forced proximity
• Slow burn
• Small town
• Foodie / chef romance
• Found family
• Ticking clock
• Enemies-adjacent
• Staff Meal as Love Language
• Grandmother Approves Before He Does
HEAT LEVEL: Steamy
Perfect for fans of: Abby Jimenez, Bolu Babalola, Christina Lauren, and Emily Henry