Braided Roses: Closed Door Romance

by Mimika Cooney

A clean contemporary romance set in Paris where logic meets love, and secrets bloom.

Megan Mercer came to Giverny for the flowers, not for feelings.
A marketing executive sent to Paris to launch a new dating app, Megan is determined to stay focused, composed, and professional.

But when a spontaneous trip to Monet’s Gardens leads to a run-in with a charming stranger who feels oddly familiar, her carefully braided world starts to unravel.

Noah Sinclair lives for code, not chaos. Observant, grounded, and quietly brilliant, he’s used to building systems that hold under pressure. When work brings him face to face with the woman he met among Monet’s flowers, he’s unsettled by how familiar she feels.

As Paris wraps them in light, meaningful conversations, and long workdays, love and logic collide. Noah must decide when to tell Megan the truth about a connection that began long before Paris, and could change everything.

Braided Roses is a slow burn, clean and wholesome, closed-door contemporary workplace romance about emotional presence, professional ambition, and the quiet courage it takes to remain when retreat feels safer.

Perfect for readers who love character driven love stories with intelligent dialogue, restrained chemistry, and a literary sensibility, set against the luminous backdrop of Paris.




TROPES:
• Slow burn
• Workplace romance
• Strangers-to-lovers
• Emotionally guarded heroine
• Patient, emotionally intelligent hero
• Found family / close-knit friendships
• Clean, closed-door romance

THEMES:
• Grief & healing
• Choosing presence over retreat
• Emotional safety over intensity
• Mutual respect
• Quiet intimacy
• Healing through connection
• Learning to want again

225 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication March 24, 2026

About the author

Mimika Cooney wrote her first story idea on a typewriter at the age of ten. It took her 40 years and 4 career changes to finally come back to her first love of writing.

She writes emotionally rich, closed-door contemporary romances Infused with witty banter, pop culture and travel. Her clean romances offer all the feels, and guaranteed happily ever afters, but won’t make Grandma blush!

Her strong characters with sass have just enough spark, ambition mixed with vulnerability, and faith that meets real-life love, to keep you flipping pages. These aren't fluffy romcoms: they're heartfelt, layered journeys with real stakes, personal growth, earned reveals, and soul-deep kisses.

She believes love and faith go hand in hand, and every good romance deserves a little heartbreak, a lot of healing, and one unforgettable happily ever after.

Mimika is an award-winning writer of 14 books with a global perspective. Born in South Africa and now based in the US, Mimika blends her background in neuroscience, entrepreneurship, photography, design, public speaking, performance coaching, and personal growth into stories that make you feel seen and heard. 

She can speak 3 languages: English (well duh), Afrikaans and Greek. Her stories often infuse diverse cultural references, luxury travel destinations and vivid experiences.

A hopeless romantic, Mimika has been married to her childhood sweetheart for 30 years. Together they share 3 children; 2 independent young adults and a witty teenager.

When she is not writing, or planning her next writing research travel trip; she will be found on the ice practicing her spins as an adult figure skater. She also enjoys stabbing people for fun (without getting arrested) as an amateur fencer.

Get on the VIP list for the inside scoop, bonus content and special freebies at mimikacooney.com

Reviews

[Katie Hay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book and yet while I loved the peace you felt while reading it, I wish it had more talking and conversations. I feel like the characters didn’t talk enough to have their relationship progress as quickly as they did. Maybe that all happened behind the scenes I gave it 4 1/2 stars because of that. But I truly did enjoy and love it. Megan and Noah are great characters that seem to flow well together. Favorite quote, “Not protection from pain, but the assurance that God meets you inside it.” Also, this book deals with the loss of a parent and grief. I have personally lost a mother and it really healed me to read this book. For that alone, the author has my undying gratitude. She gave grief the space to breathe and addressed it when most people just skip over it. It is hard to honor a parent and also live, but she beautifully had her character live it. The writing ebbed and flowed like a poem. Beautiful love story. Definitely recommend.

This was an ARC read.