Iris Lockewood · Buy EPUB
Whispers in the Ash
Contemporary romance · Healing fiction · wildfire recovery
Heat level · Medium
Six months after the Ridgefire, Elena Marchetti returns to Pine Hollow carrying a grant folder and a smile practiced for people who need her to be fine. The valley still smells of smoke. So does every unfinished goodbye.
Callum Ashford builds furniture from salvage burn wood and refuses pity the way other men refuse eye contact. Between them: grief, found family, and a slow burn that treats desire as something you earn after you learn how to stay.
Iris Lockewood writes healing romance without sanding the edges off loss.
Direct sale · $3.99 CAD
Buy EPUB · Instant download
Pay with card. Download on the thank-you page. Same file emailed after checkout.
DRM free. Amazon is on hold. Sold direct on phyllux.com.
Why this book
it is the house’s clearest slow burn — smoke, salvage, and two people learning that tenderness can be a form of rebuilding.
Tropes
- Second chance hometown
- Grumpy soft artisan
- Found family
- Trauma recovery
- Slow burn
Content warnings
- Wildfire trauma and loss
- Grief
- Anxiety
- Intimate scenes (consent forward)
Listen
Audio sample
Iris Lockewood · Chapter 4: Grain Memory
Elena and Callum in the annex, planing salvage wood after the Ridgefire.
Promotional audio excerpt. Full ebook sells direct on phyllux.com.
Excerpt
The valley still held the smell of smoke the way a coat holds perfume. Elena parked beside the temporary municipal trailer and sat with both hands on the wheel until the engine ticked itself quiet. Callum's workshop door was open. Inside, a table made from blackened timber waited under shop lights like it had already survived the worst and decided to stay beautiful anyway.
