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Run of the Mill
Executive assistant Nick Pruitt already has the dream: sterile, stainless steel apartment, cultured artsy girlfriend, and his fulfilling career (no, really) catering to the whims of his boss. When his nephew Elliot suddenly needs a guardian, Nick’s carefully curated life is upended. This brings him back to Millcreek, straight to the rundown doorstep of his estranged father. Things are going just great—thanks for asking.
With his dad’s house in no state to leave Elliot, Nick strikes a deal with Jane-of-all-trades Delilah Walker. She’ll help repair his dad's leaking roof in exchange for his help in the bakery for the town’s Fall Festival. But Delilah studies him like she wants to help him with more than a leaky roof. With Delilah's reputation for bolting from relationships, Nick knows he's not going to be the exception...right?
When Nick's boss decides Millcreek is the perfect locale for their new development project and assigns Nick as point man, returning to his life before seems less urgent—they only need to demolish the town’s historic mill first. If Nick refuses to betray his hometown and loses his job, he could lose Elliot. But carrying this secret could cost him everything he's gained by coming back.
With his dad’s house in no state to leave Elliot, Nick strikes a deal with Jane-of-all-trades Delilah Walker. She’ll help repair his dad's leaking roof in exchange for his help in the bakery for the town’s Fall Festival. But Delilah studies him like she wants to help him with more than a leaky roof. With Delilah's reputation for bolting from relationships, Nick knows he's not going to be the exception...right?
When Nick's boss decides Millcreek is the perfect locale for their new development project and assigns Nick as point man, returning to his life before seems less urgent—they only need to demolish the town’s historic mill first. If Nick refuses to betray his hometown and loses his job, he could lose Elliot. But carrying this secret could cost him everything he's gained by coming back.
250 pages, Paperback
About the author
Ashley B. Davis
4 books19 followersAshley B. Davis writes the ordinary and extraordinary. Her debut The Space Between You and Me, a YA fantasy, released in 2022. She is seeking representation for her rom-com, Run of the Mill, and working on her touch-her-and-literally-die dark werewolf romantasy. Her work appears in Rainbow Crate's summer anthology, A Queer, Queer Summer, Trembling with Fear, The Grey Rooms Podcast, Eunoia Review, and Liquid Imagination. An avid reader and sometimes artist, she uses her English degree to discuss the books she's reading, writing, and the creative process in her newsletter.
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
May 23, 2025
This book a tender, and transformative tale that takes the traditional rom-com story line, shakes it's hand, and then leads it through a brand new open door.
At the heart of the story is a a hero, who only knows how to be a hero to others, but not to himself--a whirlwind on the typical male lead whose insecurities often display as "alpha" behavior, or even anger. However, Nick is delightfully sarcastic and unsure of himself in a way men never seem like they are allowed to be, but it doesn't stop him from showing up and taking charge as soon as he knows what he wants. He is balanced beautifully with Delilah, a heroine who doesn't want to be rescued. She wants to take care of you, your family, your cow. In a genre steeped in the fantasy of being saved, this story reclaims power through vulnerability and flips the expected dynamic in the most refreshing way.
But it's not just about the love between two people.
It's about the quiet ache of family, about grief that haunts and lingers in the dilapidated walls of old homes that want felt like castles, about learning to see your parents not as icons of guardianship, but as complex, flawed, humans trying their best even when it seems like they are doing their worst. It's about shedding the the belief of what you ought to be, and learning what you need to be and who you need to be it for.
Just when the emotions threaten to break you open, this book makes you laugh. Really laugh. There's a warmth in its humor that bubbles up through the folktale setting like spring water, balancing its emotional gravity with effortless charm.
I had the grand privilege of being one of Ashley's Beta-readers, and I have not stopped thinking about Nick and Delilah and the whole town of Millcreek since then, and I hope she returns to this world over and over again.
At the heart of the story is a a hero, who only knows how to be a hero to others, but not to himself--a whirlwind on the typical male lead whose insecurities often display as "alpha" behavior, or even anger. However, Nick is delightfully sarcastic and unsure of himself in a way men never seem like they are allowed to be, but it doesn't stop him from showing up and taking charge as soon as he knows what he wants. He is balanced beautifully with Delilah, a heroine who doesn't want to be rescued. She wants to take care of you, your family, your cow. In a genre steeped in the fantasy of being saved, this story reclaims power through vulnerability and flips the expected dynamic in the most refreshing way.
But it's not just about the love between two people.
It's about the quiet ache of family, about grief that haunts and lingers in the dilapidated walls of old homes that want felt like castles, about learning to see your parents not as icons of guardianship, but as complex, flawed, humans trying their best even when it seems like they are doing their worst. It's about shedding the the belief of what you ought to be, and learning what you need to be and who you need to be it for.
Just when the emotions threaten to break you open, this book makes you laugh. Really laugh. There's a warmth in its humor that bubbles up through the folktale setting like spring water, balancing its emotional gravity with effortless charm.
I had the grand privilege of being one of Ashley's Beta-readers, and I have not stopped thinking about Nick and Delilah and the whole town of Millcreek since then, and I hope she returns to this world over and over again.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review