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This Love is Under Construction
She bought a collapsing tiny house on a wine-soaked whim. Now she is stuck with a toolbox, a grumpy contractor, and a renovation checklist that begins with one impossible do not fall for the man holding the sledgehammer.
Welcome to Maple Glen, where the gossip moves faster than the Wi-Fi and every home improvement project comes with emotional baggage.
Penny Winslow never meant to start over. But after a humiliating PR disaster, an ex who proposed to someone else during a livestream, and an auction she absolutely misunderstood, she ends up in a small town with a tiny house, a huge mess, and a contractor who makes her pulse jump more than any power tool.
Owen Carver is strictly off-limits. He is quiet, disciplined, and beloved by a town that would riot if she broke his heart. He will fix her house, but he has no interest in fixing her life or getting anywhere near her feelings.
Then the storm hits. One night of forced proximity. One kiss in a dark closet that neither of them can forget. And suddenly Penny and Owen are navigating a renovation that feels a lot like temptation.
As walls come down and sparks build, they have to decide what is worth saving, what is worth risking, and whether a broken house can lead to something whole.
If you have ever wanted to punch your past, embrace your future, or kiss the grumpy man handing you a paint roller, this is your next romance read.
Welcome to Maple Glen, where the gossip moves faster than the Wi-Fi and every home improvement project comes with emotional baggage.
Penny Winslow never meant to start over. But after a humiliating PR disaster, an ex who proposed to someone else during a livestream, and an auction she absolutely misunderstood, she ends up in a small town with a tiny house, a huge mess, and a contractor who makes her pulse jump more than any power tool.
Owen Carver is strictly off-limits. He is quiet, disciplined, and beloved by a town that would riot if she broke his heart. He will fix her house, but he has no interest in fixing her life or getting anywhere near her feelings.
Then the storm hits. One night of forced proximity. One kiss in a dark closet that neither of them can forget. And suddenly Penny and Owen are navigating a renovation that feels a lot like temptation.
As walls come down and sparks build, they have to decide what is worth saving, what is worth risking, and whether a broken house can lead to something whole.
If you have ever wanted to punch your past, embrace your future, or kiss the grumpy man handing you a paint roller, this is your next romance read.
268 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 5, 2025
132 people are currently reading
121 people want to read
About the author
Sam Marshall
6 books34 followersHi! I'm Sam Marshall, and I write romantic comedies and contemporary love stories that blend laugh-out-loud moments with unexpected emotional depth.
My style? Snappy banter, slow-burn tension, and characters you’d absolutely text at midnight for life advice.
Inspired by the people I love—especially my wife and kids—I crafts stories that are as much about personal growth as they are about falling in love. If a book can make you laugh, ache, and immediately recommend it to your best friend, that’s the kind of story I want to tell.
My goal? To write the kind of romance that makes you feel seen, smile unexpectedly, and maybe believe in love all over again.
My style? Snappy banter, slow-burn tension, and characters you’d absolutely text at midnight for life advice.
Inspired by the people I love—especially my wife and kids—I crafts stories that are as much about personal growth as they are about falling in love. If a book can make you laugh, ache, and immediately recommend it to your best friend, that’s the kind of story I want to tell.
My goal? To write the kind of romance that makes you feel seen, smile unexpectedly, and maybe believe in love all over again.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
July 4, 2025
Super cute, but starting around the 60% mark some of the plot points like, repeat themselves? It honestly feels like the author wrote multiple versions of a passage and then forgot to go back and pick one. Jarring to encounter, but didn't ruin the story for me.
August 10, 2025
I’d be willing to upgrade to a 4.5 if I could
I was invested in Penny’s story and her relationship with Owen. I highlighted several passages that are good for a life philosophy. My only beef is the repetition in Penny’s inner dialogue. One could get pretty tipsy playing a drinking game for every time she said something “hit her harder”, things “looked different in the morning light” or she didn’t know how to stay”. We get it, this is a new way of living for her. That said, she was not nearly as shallow and transitory as she made herself out to be. She seemed pretty well connected to her parents and Abby! Heck, she even held onto Zoe! Still, I didn’t give up and was duly invested in her and Owen’s transformation and outcome.
I was invested in Penny’s story and her relationship with Owen. I highlighted several passages that are good for a life philosophy. My only beef is the repetition in Penny’s inner dialogue. One could get pretty tipsy playing a drinking game for every time she said something “hit her harder”, things “looked different in the morning light” or she didn’t know how to stay”. We get it, this is a new way of living for her. That said, she was not nearly as shallow and transitory as she made herself out to be. She seemed pretty well connected to her parents and Abby! Heck, she even held onto Zoe! Still, I didn’t give up and was duly invested in her and Owen’s transformation and outcome.
July 27, 2025
Promising but needs a HEAVY rewrite
Honestly, this feels like something that could have been dropped on an agents desk, not a finished ready for publication product.
It's definitely promising, but in desperate need of an editor and professional guidance to get it to what it could be.
Sam Marshall has the makings of a good author. With continued improvement and working on his craft and seeking out professional assistance with editing, he could really write some amazing stuff. He very much leans toward literary, but I think it worked.
There is a lot about this book that I enjoyed. The imagery, the emotional tension both between the hero and heroine, and within the heroin herself was excellently done.
There were several points in the book that the timeline made zero sense. At the very end, they were acting like they had been living together for weeks or months when that was impossible because it was the same day as when the TV crew was coming. They had barely enough time to get it done before the TV crew came. They were scraping the bottom of the barrel TimeWise. Thankfully, the town ended up helping at the last minute, and they got everything finished.
At the point where he walked away for a short time, that part of the book looked like it had been written two different ways, and then Sam forgot to edit one out. One minute, he was leaving, and the next minute, he was still in the house packing all of his stuff, and they were still having a conversation it was utterly confusing.
And that wasn't the first time that that happened. There were at least one if not two other times where he completed a scene and then went back and started in the middle and kept going. The pacing was off in regards to the timeline of the renovation. And it's frustrating that all we got was the difficulty in the relationship. We got so little time of them actually being together. And then the physical attraction and passion that happened before, during, and shortly after the kiss was then completely dismissed and thrown out when they finally came to a consensus that they would be together and we saw no Resurgence of that passion at all they felt like they had come to this great awesome friendship not a romantic love.
I will keep my eye out on this author's future publications. Because I was serious about the fact that I do think he has promise as an amazing writer in the future. Especially if he goes to the effort of getting an editor.
Honestly, this feels like something that could have been dropped on an agents desk, not a finished ready for publication product.
It's definitely promising, but in desperate need of an editor and professional guidance to get it to what it could be.
Sam Marshall has the makings of a good author. With continued improvement and working on his craft and seeking out professional assistance with editing, he could really write some amazing stuff. He very much leans toward literary, but I think it worked.
There is a lot about this book that I enjoyed. The imagery, the emotional tension both between the hero and heroine, and within the heroin herself was excellently done.
There were several points in the book that the timeline made zero sense. At the very end, they were acting like they had been living together for weeks or months when that was impossible because it was the same day as when the TV crew was coming. They had barely enough time to get it done before the TV crew came. They were scraping the bottom of the barrel TimeWise. Thankfully, the town ended up helping at the last minute, and they got everything finished.
At the point where he walked away for a short time, that part of the book looked like it had been written two different ways, and then Sam forgot to edit one out. One minute, he was leaving, and the next minute, he was still in the house packing all of his stuff, and they were still having a conversation it was utterly confusing.
And that wasn't the first time that that happened. There were at least one if not two other times where he completed a scene and then went back and started in the middle and kept going. The pacing was off in regards to the timeline of the renovation. And it's frustrating that all we got was the difficulty in the relationship. We got so little time of them actually being together. And then the physical attraction and passion that happened before, during, and shortly after the kiss was then completely dismissed and thrown out when they finally came to a consensus that they would be together and we saw no Resurgence of that passion at all they felt like they had come to this great awesome friendship not a romantic love.
I will keep my eye out on this author's future publications. Because I was serious about the fact that I do think he has promise as an amazing writer in the future. Especially if he goes to the effort of getting an editor.
June 30, 2025
This was an odd read for me. I loved the first half of the book. Penny was hilarious and the story was funny and cute. It was read like it was written by a human who had good ideas. But the second half felt like the author wasn't really sure where to go and asked chatGPT to finish it... It was awkward and clunky, and I guess it could have just been written by a human in one go and never proofread, but there were so many incongruencies that it was almost painful. Owen leaves the house, gets in his truck, and leaves, but then in the next sentence he's standing in the doorframe. The same paragraph shows up twice within a few pages (this happens multiple times) The passage of time made NO sense - multiple days pass but nothing happened at all since then and it's clearly actually the next day but we're told otherwise. It said "by Owen's standards, that's practically a love letter" (or some very similar variation) basically a million times.
The book had a lot of potential, but just fell apart as it went. 3 stars is probably too high, but the first half got so many laughs out of me that I think it deserves it.
The book had a lot of potential, but just fell apart as it went. 3 stars is probably too high, but the first half got so many laughs out of me that I think it deserves it.
July 18, 2025
More like this book is under construction… Idk how this book has an average of 4 stars because the lack of editing in the second half made it painful to read. The number of times I read a page, went to the next page and thought I didn’t advance a page because it had the exact same dialogue or the scene repeated itself was crazy. Seems like there were multiple points where the author rewrote a section and then just forgot to delete the original version right before it. For example: in chapter 17 Owen drove off in his truck like 3 times in the same fight, and then a paragraph after driving off he would magically still be there. Only reason this was not a one star was because the first half was better and I liked the premise, could have been a better book if someone had read it to make sure it was congruous and had scenes that flowed before publishing.
July 4, 2025
Feels like being welcomed home .
Sometimes the things we thought should make us happy are not what brings us peace. Taking time to stop and really think will help us find something worth staying for. The road to our happiness may include a lot of pot holes and detours such as having to deal with a sad little house that needed more than a few pieces of lumber to fix. The house needed two hurting people to come together backed up by a town that made strangers into family. I read this book in one sitting. It drew me in. I liked how the author weaves so many characters into the storyline. You feel like the book comes to life in your mind.
Sometimes the things we thought should make us happy are not what brings us peace. Taking time to stop and really think will help us find something worth staying for. The road to our happiness may include a lot of pot holes and detours such as having to deal with a sad little house that needed more than a few pieces of lumber to fix. The house needed two hurting people to come together backed up by a town that made strangers into family. I read this book in one sitting. It drew me in. I liked how the author weaves so many characters into the storyline. You feel like the book comes to life in your mind.
August 22, 2025
amazing author… poor editing
I highlighted sooooo many amazingly descriptive quotes and deep thoughts and laugh out loud phrasings… more highlights than I’ve used in over a year.
I’m giving this a 3.5 ⭐️ because I can’t decide between a 3 or 4. I found a repeated scenario and a few timeline issues, as well as some spots where it was stated point blank to be one amount of time passing and then the next page had a different timeline.
But EVEN WITH all those pulling me out of the story, I’m still planning to hunt down some more Sam Marshall books. That’s how amazing his voice is as an author.
I highlighted sooooo many amazingly descriptive quotes and deep thoughts and laugh out loud phrasings… more highlights than I’ve used in over a year.
I’m giving this a 3.5 ⭐️ because I can’t decide between a 3 or 4. I found a repeated scenario and a few timeline issues, as well as some spots where it was stated point blank to be one amount of time passing and then the next page had a different timeline.
But EVEN WITH all those pulling me out of the story, I’m still planning to hunt down some more Sam Marshall books. That’s how amazing his voice is as an author.
January 19, 2026
This Love Is Under Construction had a solid premise, and I did enjoy watching the characters come together through the project, it was easily the strongest part of the story for me. Unfortunately, the book started to lose momentum as it went on. The repetition became distracting, and by around 65% in, it felt like the story had already said everything it needed to say.
While the romance itself was pleasant, very slow…it didn’t quite justify the remaining pages, and I found myself pushing through rather than eagerly turning them. Overall, it wasn’t a bad read, but it didn’t fully hold my interest either. A decent concept that just didn’t deliver enough to make it memorable.
While the romance itself was pleasant, very slow…it didn’t quite justify the remaining pages, and I found myself pushing through rather than eagerly turning them. Overall, it wasn’t a bad read, but it didn’t fully hold my interest either. A decent concept that just didn’t deliver enough to make it memorable.
August 11, 2025
Sam Marshall Writes A good love story
The story of The Girl Who Was Always Leaving and The Guy who always stayed. Two talented people who revealed the talents of the other through rebuilding a falling down tiny house while rebuilding their lives, although that part was not as obvious to them as it was to us, the dear readers. A refreshingly delightful story that you will remember long after the reading. Sam Marshall’s style of writing romance is different and refreshing. I will read more of his books.
The story of The Girl Who Was Always Leaving and The Guy who always stayed. Two talented people who revealed the talents of the other through rebuilding a falling down tiny house while rebuilding their lives, although that part was not as obvious to them as it was to us, the dear readers. A refreshingly delightful story that you will remember long after the reading. Sam Marshall’s style of writing romance is different and refreshing. I will read more of his books.
June 29, 2025
Sweet story
I didn't realize until I finished this book that it was written by a man, some lucky woman......... The only thing it was missing was a kiss at the end, aside from that it was a great story. Its been awhile since I had troub!e putting a book down. I highly recommend this book.
I didn't realize until I finished this book that it was written by a man, some lucky woman......... The only thing it was missing was a kiss at the end, aside from that it was a great story. Its been awhile since I had troub!e putting a book down. I highly recommend this book.
July 13, 2025
It was fine. The beginning chapters were entertaining and then, like others have said, it just fell apart. There was a TON of repetition and continuities that were problematic as the story progressed. I honestly skimmed over the last 8 or so chapters because it threw me out of the story so significantly that I just ended up not caring about the characters anymore.
August 18, 2025
Just finished reading this book and honestly, it has a very underwhelming ending. I was waiting for the big moment, the climax of the book if you will and was mildly disappointed when nothing really ever came. Also, I think the symbolism was definitely a little too try harder and came off as forced rather than natural. Overall, decent book but definitely not one of my favorites.
June 26, 2025
Enjoyed
Sam Marshall is a new author to me. I enjoyed his story about two people who faced obstacles that were inhibiting their ability to build a relationship. How they resolved and accepted each other's strengths and weaknesses.
Sam Marshall is a new author to me. I enjoyed his story about two people who faced obstacles that were inhibiting their ability to build a relationship. How they resolved and accepted each other's strengths and weaknesses.
July 16, 2025
Loved it!
I am looking forward to more from this author. I pretty much love everything about. Great characters, hilarious mishaps, charming banter and a meaningful subplot. Just a great read.
I am looking forward to more from this author. I pretty much love everything about. Great characters, hilarious mishaps, charming banter and a meaningful subplot. Just a great read.
August 8, 2025
Cute Love Story
I really enjoyed the first 70% of this book. The last 30% seemed a bit repetitive and this was the slowest slow burn book I’ve ever read. Definitely a cute love story but a bit too slow and missing some clarity.
I really enjoyed the first 70% of this book. The last 30% seemed a bit repetitive and this was the slowest slow burn book I’ve ever read. Definitely a cute love story but a bit too slow and missing some clarity.
August 10, 2025
Loved it—not too syrupy sweet, but definitely sweet—I love when the characters don’t give everything away in the first 2 chapters and his crabby side wasn’t snarky which can come across as disrespectful. I’m a Sam Marshall fan now. I also loved how skilled she became without really realizing it.
June 25, 2025
A clean story
A story about finding home and a whole town for family. A must read if you like clean, but interesting stories.
A story about finding home and a whole town for family. A must read if you like clean, but interesting stories.
July 20, 2025
this Love is Under construction
Very enjoyable and well written read. Characters described in depth and fondly. Couldn’t help but wish them well.
Thank you. Cheri B
Very enjoyable and well written read. Characters described in depth and fondly. Couldn’t help but wish them well.
Thank you. Cheri B
October 6, 2025
Happy Ending
Penny purchases a fixer upper on a drunken whim and butts head with Owen the contractor on renovation goals. Slow burn romance.
Penny purchases a fixer upper on a drunken whim and butts head with Owen the contractor on renovation goals. Slow burn romance.
June 26, 2025
I absolutely adore it. The story is a charming slow-burn romance, which is totally my thing. It features two characters: a grumpy MMC and a cheerful FMC. Throughout the book, the main characters discover how well they complement each other. The adorable banter between them really brings it to life. So, if you're in the mood for a straightforward and sweet slow romance, 'This Love Under Construction' is an ideal choice.
July 16, 2025
This book has so much potential and the author’s writing is beautiful. It badly needs an editor as a lot was very repetitive and I found myself asking, “wait, didn’t I already read this?” With some editing, it could be really great. I also thought the chemistry between Winslow and Owen was great, but there needed to be a bit more tension.
June 29, 2025
Now THIS is a romance book. All the feels. I laughed, cried and couldn't stop reading. The banter between the FMC & MMC, the small town vibe (grapevine and gossip! yet totally caring), the intensity that vibrated off the pages.
What an amazingly clever author. Highly recommended.
What an amazingly clever author. Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews