Things We Never Got Over (Knockemout)

Bearded, bad-boy barber Knox prefers to live his life the way he takes his coffee: Alone. Unless you count his basset hound, Waylon.

Knox doesn’t tolerate drama, even when it comes in the form of a stranded runaway bride.

Naomi wasn’t just running away from her wedding. She was riding to the rescue of her estranged twin to Knockemout, Virginia, a rough-around-the-edges town where disputes are settled the old-fashioned way…with fists and beer. Usually in that order.

Too bad for Naomi her evil twin hasn’t changed at all. After helping herself to Naomi’s car and cash, Tina leaves her with something unexpected. The niece Naomi didn’t know she had. Now she’s stuck in town with no car, no job, no plan, and no home with an 11-year-old going on thirty to take care of.

There’s a reason Knox doesn’t do complications or high-maintenance women, especially not the romantic ones. But since Naomi’s life imploded right in front of him, the least he can do is help her out of her jam. And just as soon as she stops getting into new trouble he can leave her alone and get back to his peaceful, solitary life.

At least, that’s the plan until the trouble turns to real danger.

Lucy Score is an instant #1 New York Times bestselling author. She grew up in a literary family who insisted that the dinner table was for reading and earned a degree in journalism.

She writes full-time from the Pennsylvania home she and Mr. Lucy share with their obnoxious cat, Cleo. When not spending hours crafting heartbreaker heroes and kick-ass heroines, Lucy can be found on the couch, in the kitchen, or at the gym.

She hopes to someday write from a sailboat, oceanfront condo, or tropical island with reliable Wi-Fi.

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“Things We Never Got Over” is a small-town romance about a woman whose carefully planned life falls apart in one humiliating weekend and who ends up rebuilding herself in a place she never expected to call home. Naomi Witt arrives in the rough-and-ready town of Knockemout, Virginia, intending to help her estranged twin sister, Tina, only to discover that the visit will change the course of her life. Naomi has just fled her wedding in dramatic fashion after realizing that marrying her fiancé was a mistake, and she comes to town emotionally drained, embarrassed, and desperate to sort out the mess her life has become. Instead of finding the support she hoped for, she is immediately thrown into chaos when Tina steals her car, her cash, and leaves her with a niece Naomi never knew existed.

That niece, Waylay, becomes one of the emotional centers of the story. Naomi learns almost instantly that Tina has abandoned her daughter, and even though Naomi is shocked, she steps up to care for the quiet, observant eleven-year-old. This decision changes everything. Naomi had come to town only to help for a short time, but Waylay’s presence gives her life a new purpose and ties her more deeply to Knockemout. The relationship between Naomi and Waylay is tender and natural, built on patience, trust, and the gradual realization that both of them have been let down by the people who should have protected them. Naomi may feel like she is barely holding herself together, but she still chooses kindness, and that choice defines much of the novel’s heart.

In Knockemout, Naomi also meets Knox Morgan, the town’s gruff, guarded, and deeply attractive bar owner and barber. Knox is the sort of man who keeps his distance from complications, and Naomi is the last thing he wants to deal with. At first, he assumes she is Tina, whose reputation in town is terrible, and he has no interest in getting involved. But when he realizes Naomi is different, he starts helping her in ways he would rather not admit. Their connection begins with friction and suspicion, but it slowly shifts into something warmer and more complicated. Knox is protective, blunt, and stubborn, while Naomi is impulsive, wounded, and trying to rediscover her own strength. Their chemistry builds through banter, shared vulnerability, and the sense that both of them are carrying pain they have never fully faced.

What makes the romance work is that Naomi and Knox are not just attracted to each other; they are both damaged in different ways. Naomi has spent years trying to be the responsible one, the good one, the person who keeps things under control. That pressure has made her life rigid and unsatisfying, and her broken engagement is only the latest sign that she has been living for the wrong kind of stability. Knox, meanwhile, has built a life based on solitude and self-protection. He likes order, independence, and emotional distance, but Naomi’s arrival forces him to confront the fact that he has been hiding from connection. Their relationship becomes a slow process of learning to trust, not because they are naturally easy together, but because they are exactly the kind of people who need to be challenged into healing.

The town itself plays a major role in the story. Knockemout is full of gossip, loyalty, history, and local drama, and Naomi quickly becomes part of a larger web of relationships. She finds allies in people like Sloane, the librarian, and in the broader community that begins to see her as separate from her twin sister. That matters because one of the novel’s underlying ideas is that people are not always defined by the worst things done by their families. Naomi has spent her whole life being overshadowed by Tina’s selfishness and cruelty, and Knockemout gives her a chance to be seen for who she is. As she settles into town, finds work, and starts building a life around Waylay and her growing feelings for Knox, she begins to understand that belonging does not have to mean perfection.

The novel also carries a darker thread beneath the romance. Tina’s reckless behavior and long history of selfishness create real danger, and Naomi’s arrival in Knockemout pulls her into problems she never expected. The story is not only about falling in love but also about navigating family betrayal, protecting children, and deciding what kind of future is worth fighting for. Naomi has to learn where her responsibility ends and where her own life begins. Knox, for his part, has to accept that caring for someone does not make him weak or trapped. Both of them are forced to rework the stories they have told themselves about what love costs and what it can offer.

“Things We Never Got Over” becomes a story about second chances, chosen family, and the courage it takes to stop living according to other people’s expectations. Naomi starts as a woman whose life has fallen apart, but she discovers strength in the very place she least expected to find it. Knox, who begins as a closed-off man determined to avoid emotional entanglement, becomes someone willing to fight for love and family. The book blends humor, tension, small-town charm, and emotional healing into a romance that is both messy and satisfying. At its core, it is about finding home not in the life you planned, but in the people who help you become who you were always meant to be.