One Star

He gave her escape room one star. Now the door's jammed, the power's out, and he's locked inside it with her until morning.

Immy Callahan poured her redundancy money, her sanity, and her last shred of pride into The Cogsworth Vault - a steampunk escape room in a freezing Manchester warehouse. Then one viral one-star takedown gutted her bookings overnight. Desperate, she agrees to a private after-hours run-through for the anonymous reviewer who could save her... only to realise, once the door clicks shut, that he is the man who wrote it.

A blackout. A snowstorm. A dodgy fire door she really should have fixed, and two phones dying at two percent. Trapped inside the very puzzles she built, Immy and her infuriating critic have all night to solve her room by torchlight - and to admit the truths neither of them wanted to say out loud. But when dawn finally frees them with something real sparking between them, she finds the draft on his laptop that makes her wonder if the whole tender night was ever connection at all... or just content.

A laugh-out-loud, locked-room romantic comedy novella about pride, second chances, and whether an apology written just for you - not for the algorithm - is one you can afford to believe.

Perfect for fans of Beth O'Leary and Mhairi McFarlane.