Home to the Heart Country: the perfect heartwarming romance debut for 2025's Christmas, about belonging and neurodivergence, from a fresh new voice perfect for readers of Rachael Johns and Mandy Magro

(Paperback)

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A heartfelt small-town romance exploring themes of belonging, social anxiety and neurodivergence from a delightful new Australian voice. Perfect for readers of Rachael Johns and Mandy Magro.

She's in town to claim an inheritance, but gets much more than she bargained for ...

Beth dreams of putting down roots and finding a place to belong, and with a steady job in Townsville, she's on her way to achieving that dream. But when the cute little cottage she's rented for the past four years is put on the market, the stability she's always craved is threatened.

News of a life-changing inheritance takes her across the country to a small town in Western Australia, where she discovers that the rundown old house her aunt left her might just be her saving grace. With plans to sell it so she can buy her beloved cottage, she hires Noah, a farmer-slash-wannabe-renovator, to help fix it up. But thanks to her self-preserving tendencies, she's otherwise determined to keep her distance from everyone in town.

Despite her best efforts, Beth starts to form meaningful connections, and in Noah, she discovers a man who sees beyond her awkward shyness to the woman she is on the inside. Soon, she's forced to choose between the only home she's ever known and the chance to finally feel as if she belongs. And to make matters worse, she uncovers a shocking family truth that could ruin everything ...

Author Bio

Libby Iriks fell in love with story as an eight-year-old when her teacher read Charlotte's Web to the class. She developed a fondness for the romance genre soon after, and in 2018, combined her passions when she became a romance editor for a boutique publisher. Since receiving her autism diagnosis at the ripe old age of 42, she has come to understand that story and romance are her 'special interests'. Libby is currently studying her Master of Creative Writing at Edith Cowan University and, in her free time, coaches romance authors to write stories with heart. Home to the Heart Country is her debut novel. libbyiriks.com Photo Credit: Kirsten Graham Photography