A Fine Line

by Penelope Guinn

A rivals to lovers scenario where the sparks between two small town campaign managers are hotter than the competition. Calliope Simons is in over her head. After a career failure deposits her back into her childhood bedroom in Ragansville, GA, she eagerly takes on managing her former mentor’s mayoral campaign. If she’s going to achieve her lifelong dream of running a major political campaign, Calliope has to win—or face the collapse of her career before it ever really starts. Unfortunately, as passionate as she is about her candidate’s progressive plan to transform the small town she loves, that might not be enough to match the sleek professionalism of the other campaign’s manager, Emerson the guy who rejected her for a different campaign months before due to her lack of experience. The same guy she kissed after a round of drinks and a surprising show of support.

Emerson Palmer has an impressive resume, but he’s lacking inspiration after a rare loss has him rethinking his purpose. When he takes a meeting with a less than worthy candidate, he’s only thinking about mending his bank account. But when he finds out that Calliope, the woman who turned his life upside down months before, is leading the opposition, he jumps at the chance to be closer to her.

Orbiting each other as they campaign for their respective candidates, Emerson offers Calliope a way to cool the tension that threatens to boil over at every one night together to finish what they started with that first kiss. But once isn’t enough. Soon, they’re relying on each other for more than physical release, and eventually, Calliope has to decide if a career in the political trenches is right for her—and if her professional rivalry with Emerson could ever be exchanged for a romantic collaboration.

A Fine Line is for lovers of optimistic small-town arcs like Leslie Knope’s city council run in Parks and Rec and smoldering friends-to-lovers stories such as B.K. Borison’s Business Casual – and for anyone who ever rooted for The West Wing’s Josh and Donna to finally act on their sizzling chemistry.

357 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication February 17, 2026

About the author

As an opera singer with a love of sharing emotional, romantic feats of triumph in song, Penelope Guinn always longed to share stories that weren’t already written. For the past several years, they’ve been sowing their oats and sharing their writing in fandom spaces on AO3 where they’ve built a wonderful following of readers. Their combined works have received over a million hits.

writer of:
romance, compatible weirdos, messy MCs, pining/yearning enthusiast, third act breakup and miscommunication truther
things I like:
contemporary settings, marriage of convenience, enemies to lovers, banter used as foreplay, paranormal, historical romps, forced proximity, food lovers