With The Teacher Evacuees, my WW2 British home front story as Rose Warner having come out last week, this week it’s my next Jen Gilroy sweet contemporary romance, The Hero Next Door.

Published by Harlequin Heartwarming, “uplifting stories where the bonds of family, friendship and community unite,” The Hero Next Door is first in my new Strawberry Pond series.

The books in this series (books 2 and 3 are out in 2026) follow three women who work in and around the fictional small town of Strawberry Pond in New Hampshire, U.S.A.’s beautiful White Mountains.

Calling themselves “The Farm-Hers,” since they’re all involved in agriculture, these close friends support each other in life and farming.

In The Hero Next Door, Josie Ryan, a single mom, runs struggling Snow Moon Hill Farm with her grandparents.

Then, Heath Tremblay, a divorced city guy from Boston, inherits his great-aunt’s property, Tabby Cat Hollow, next door.

Will Heath be a temporary neighbor…Or a permanent problem?

At first, Heath and Josie are complete opposites.

She’s a hard-working farmer, and he’s a fish out of water city guy who’s never even met a cow up close.

Yet the more time they spend together, the more Heath could be the remedy for both Josie’s farm and her guarded heart.

There’s lots of family—his and hers.

Strawberry Pond is also a tight-knit community inspired by real places I’ve visited on New Hampshire vacations.

It’s filled with what my maternal grandmother would’ve called “button-hole cousins,” and where people have deep roots and long memories.

A town where people care about their neighbours and look out for them.

There’s also Cookie, a special rescue dog, a cow named Clarabelle and Fifi, a vintage tractor.

Fellow Heartwarming author Anna Grace describes The Hero Next Door as “a cozy, thoughtful read” which left her “smiling and uplifted.”

An early reader says “the characters are wonderful. I was rooting for all of them.”

It’s a story about how an unlikely connection might just become a love for keeps.

And for a man who never expected to have a family of his own, is an unexpected “found family” the one he never knew he needed?

In addition, The Hero Next Door is a story about home and what it means—both the real place and finding home with “your person.”

From my heart to yours, welcome to Strawberry Pond. I’m excited to share this story and series with you.

If you haven’t already got a copy, order (in e-book or large-print paperback here.

As for The Teacher Evacuees?

British saga/historical women’s fiction author, Susanna Bavin, showcased The Teacher Evacuees on her blog here, calling my first Rose Warner historical “an emotionally satisfying story of new love, unexpected friendships and wartime courage…Warm[s] your heart.”

I couldn’t hope for higher praise.

In both my Jen Gilroy contemporary romances, and Rose Warner historical women’s fiction, I write stories to “warm your heart” as well as “bring your heart home.”