You’re listening to the Author Diary Entries podcast. I’m your host, Sagan Morrow, and this is episode #199. Access the show notes and transcript of this episode at SaganMorrow.com/podcast.
Happy BOOK RELEASE DAY to Love By Design — my newest romance novella! Yay!
Love By Design is an insta-attraction, forced proximity, friends to lovers, in love with a married man, small town romance with an unexpected premise: The main character needs to live alone with her boss’s husband (without her boss around), and she has a HUGE crush on that man — and he seems to be interested in her, too — AND her boss seems to be encouraging them to spend more time together. (So this is kind of a twist on the workplace romance trope, too!)
…Basically, the main character has NO IDEA she’s in a “why choose” polyamorous romance story.
If you’re new to my work, one thing you should know about me is that I LOVE writing love triangles that turn into open relationships. We’ve seen this happen over and over again, through various iterations and styles, across the 10 romance novellas that I have published to date in the Polyamorous Passions Universe. (The Polyamorous Passions Universe is comprised of a 9-book series plus a spin-off duology).
As the newest addition to the Polyamorous Passions Universe, Love By Design is part of the Small Town Stilettos duology. It is Book 2 in the duology, however it can 100% be read as a standalone book. The main character in Love By Design, Ripley Sutton, has pretty much zero knowledge of the events that transpire in the prequel, so I think that Love By Design would be a very fun book to read first! If you’re a chronological reader, read Small Town Stilettos first and THEN Love By Design; otherwise, I’d encourage you to try reading Love By Design first.
And by the way, I don’t like to limit my readership or pigeonhole myself into any one platform — we are here for non-monogamy in multiple formats, and that includes where you can find my books. I am not monogamous in choosing my book platforms! My books are available on Kobo, Kindle, Barnes & Noble, pretty much any major e-bookstore platform, or request them at your local library!
(I also include all of my novellas in Kobo Plus — so if you have a subscription to the Kobo Plus monthly membership, you can read my novellas for free! Yay!)
Link is in the show notes for this episode, or visit SaganMorrow.com/books, or search “Love By Design by Sagan Morrow” on your favourite bookstore platform to grab your copy today.
In celebration of this book release, I want to do a reading from the novella so you can get a taste of what to expect…
This is the opening scene of Love By Design; the start of Chapter 1.
***
Chapter 1: Day 1 of new year, new me
“Margaret, we’ve got a problem,” I said to my boss on the phone, swinging my 70-litre camping backpack into the trunk of my old 2003 Ford Focus wagon. I turned on the spot in the gravel parking lot, taking in the old building that was supposed to house me for the next year.
“Oh, no,” she replied, her voice filled with dread. “Did you get in a scuffle with a bear?”
“Um. No?”
“Look, I know there aren’t a lot of shops in town, but you can always buy stuff online and get it shipped to you. I really think that if you give it a chance—”
Even in the face of my current conundrum, I couldn’t suppress my laugh. “No, that’s not the issue, either.”
“I bet it’s sleeting, isn’t it? The weather can get you down when you’re stuck in a small town, but—”
“The sun’s shining. It’s a gorgeous day. And anyway, I like all kinds of weather,” I added for good measure.
“The power’s out and you can’t get online, then,” Margaret decided.
I shrugged and leaned against my car. “I know we work for an online company, but to be honest, I don’t spend much time on the Internet.”
There was a pause on the other end of the line. I could almost see Margaret’s bewilderment: If there wasn’t a problem with the tiny town of Fort Edwin itself (population: 1,500), then what could possibly be the issue?
“It’s the apartment we booked for me,” I filled her in helpfully, now that she had given me the airtime to explain. “Some pipes burst, and when they were repairing the plumbing, it turned out the building had more problems than they thought. They’ll need to tear down the structure and do a complete rebuild.”
“Well. Crap,” Margaret said.
“Right? I feel so bad for them, too,” I fretted.
“Of course,” she replied hastily, “but there’s not much we can do for them. We need to find you a place to live. Where are you now?”
“Standing in their parking lot and at a bit of a loss for what to do next.”
“Was there trouble on the road? How long have you been standing there?” Margaret demanded. “I thought you were supposed to arrive a few hours ago. Are you okay?”
I smiled. I hadn’t known Margaret for long, and she certainly had a strong personality, but I liked her. She was a good boss—even if she didn’t understand my desire for small town life. “I’m fine. The roads were great. It was a beautiful drive! The scenery is breathtaking,” I added, looking over the roof of the single-story apartment building to drink in the view. The mountains reminded me of crinoline skirts over steel hoop frames from the 1850s, gentle slopes undulating from a levelled plateau, with rocky outcrops cresting like bows and ornaments from the Parisian fashion at the time.
“Tricky to navigate those roads, though. Is that what slowed you down? Or was there an accident?”
I bit my lip to stop myself from giggling again at Margaret’s suspicions. She really, really didn’t like living in a small town—and although she’d grudgingly conceded to me before that the mountains were stunning, she’d also admitted that the pressing closeness of wilderness had felt too alien, even claustrophobic, at times.
Funny—the prairies where I’d lived all my life seemed almost eerily open and empty in comparison to the mountains, now that I was here.
“Nope. No problems on the road,” I said. “I made it here on time, but spent the last couple hours getting to know the apartment building owners and seeing if there was anything I could do to help. We had tea. They feel terrible about the late notice, but I—”
Margaret sighed. “Yeah, it would’ve been nice if they’d given us a heads-up before you arrived. Do they know of any places available for rent in town?” Her voice sounded desperate now, and it wasn’t hard to see why.
“As far as they know, there are zero vacancies in Fort Edwin,” I confirmed what she already knew I was going to say. “At least, none that they think would be suitable.”
There was another pause on the other end of the line. “Let me make a quick call, okay? I might have a solution, but I just need to check. I’ll call you back right away,” she reassured me.
I stretched against the side of my car and lifted my face up to soak in the warmth of the sun on this unseasonably balmy day in late January. The sunshine felt like lightweight cashmere where it kissed my cheeks. “I don’t have anywhere else to be.”
***
At my interview for this remote job a few weeks earlier, Margaret made zero effort to hide the fact that she was a total city girl. She’d come up with the idea for the Small Town Stilettos brand—an ethical, stylish yet durable, size-inclusive clothing line that catered to people living in small towns and remote communities—while handling some family affairs in Fort Edwin this past summer.
The soft launch of Small Town Stilettos took place a mere month before she hired me to be the lead on the project. Small Town Stilettos was under the umbrella of a sustainable fashion brand called Not Cool Girls and I’d been wearing their clothes for years. I’d interned at a few different fashion houses when I was in school, but this was a big break. It was a major step up from my past experience.
“NCG needs someone with a fashion background—who’s game for rural living—to run the Small Town Stilettos brand,” she had explained. “That’s not me. Can’t stand the small town life, and I don’t understand it, either.”
“I’ve always dreamed of living in a rural community,” I answered eagerly. “They’re so romantic! It’s too crowded and chaotic here in the city.”
She grinned at me. “You are exactly who Small Town Stilettos needs.”
When she offered me the job the next day and said they wanted someone on the ground in Fort Edwin within the month, I jumped at the chance.
The truth was, leading the Small Town Stilettos brand in Fort Edwin was my dream opportunity.
Dream job as a fashion designer: Check.
Dream home in a small town: Check (as soon as we found lodgings for me, anyway).
Dream man: …Well, I hoped to check that one off soon.
My ideal man lived in a small town, loved kids and dogs and the outdoors, was handy around the house and always home for dinner, didn’t drink coffee (I hated the smell of it, so there was no way I could stand being married to someone who guzzled the stuff), and enjoyed taking me camping and hiking and kayaking on our dates. He cared deeply about the local community. He was kind and thoughtful and adored me.
I knew what I wanted in a life partner, but so far, I hadn’t been able to find that perfect-for-me person yet.
***
The phone rang 10 minutes later. I reluctantly dragged my eyes away from the snow-frosted conifers, pulling the phone out of my pocket to answer it.
“Found you lodging,” Margaret announced triumphantly in greeting, before I could say “Hello.”
I opened the car door and strapped on my seatbelt. “Hi, Margaret! That’s great, thank you! How? Where?”
“165 James Drive. Take the main road to the church across the street from the gas station, then make a left and drive for about three blocks until you reach a house with three big dogs in the yard. They’ll bark at your car. Take a right and drive til the end of that road, then another left to get onto James Drive. Okay?”
“Take a left at the church, a right when I hear barking, left at the end of the street. Got it.”
“The church by the gas station,” Margaret repeated. “Not to be confused with the church near the beach or the church on the other side of town.”
“Er… Right,” I said, wondering why a town with a population of 1,500 people needed three different churches in town. “So there was a vacancy after all?”
“You’re going to stay with my husband, Logan.”
***
It was a few days after Margaret hired me, while we were discussing plans for Small Town Stilettos, that she casually mentioned her husband still lived in Fort Edwin.
I looked her up and down, from the high heels she wore to her immaculate hair to the opera tickets sticking out of her purse.
“Your ex?” I guessed. There was no way she could be married to her total opposite.
A smile played on her lips. “No, we’re still married.”
“But he doesn’t live with you here in the city?”
She shook her head. Perhaps I should have stopped asking questions, but that secretive smile remained on her face, like it was some sort of inside joke. Even if she wasn’t letting me in on the joke, I figured she wouldn’t be annoyed by my questions.
“How did you end up marrying someone from Fort Edwin?” I asked. “It’s not even in the same province.”
“It’s a long story,” Margaret answered, busying herself with papers on the desk.
As far as I knew, she’d only been in Fort Edwin for six months to launch the Small Town Stilettos brand before moving back to the city—and she was already married to someone there?
“Must’ve been a whirlwind romance.”
Margaret cleared her throat. “Mmm. Something like that.”
***
“I don’t want to be a burden on your husband,” I told Margaret on the phone now, not yet firing up the ignition. It would be awkward enough to stay in my boss’s house if she was living there with me—but to stay for an undetermined amount of time at their house with only her husband as my roommate? Was that crossing a line?
“Don’t be ridiculous. He’s a people person.”
“This is asking a lot. I don’t want to be any trouble.”
“You’re not any trouble. This saves the company the need to pay rent for an apartment, so you’re actually doing NCG a favour. What’s mine is yours.”
“But you don’t think it’s… kinda weird for me to stay at your house? With your husband? Alone?”
“Ripley,” Margaret said, and I could hear the exasperation in her voice this time, “Trust me, there’s nothing to worry about. You’re perfect for—I mean, you’re perfect for this job. The two of you will get along great, I just know it. And this way you’ll have a point of contact to show you the ins and outs of Fort Edwin. You couldn’t ask for a better tour guide.”
“It doesn’t seem fair to him to be stuck with me,” I pointed out.
Margaret snorted. “Oh, he won’t mind one bit,” she said firmly. There was an odd tone to her voice—satisfaction? But no, that didn’t make any sense. I must have imagined it.
“If you’re absolutely sure,” I said, wavering.
“One thousand percent,” Margaret replied.
***
There you go — a sneak peek from the first scene of Love By Design!
This is SUCH a fun romance novella, I am obsessed with the dynamics between Ripley and her love interest, and I just know that you are going to love the story and their relationship as much as I do.
The best way you can celebrate book release day with me is by grabbing a copy of this book at your favourite e-bookstore — maybe even two, one for yourself and another for a friend! Just search “Love By Design by Sagan Morrow” on those platforms, or visit SaganMorrow.com/books. Happy reading!
