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Back Burner
She built a life on purpose. He left her without one.
Ten years after the boy who shattered her heart disappeared without a word, Dr. Natasha Conrad has everything she ever planned for—respect, control, and the illusion of peace.
The scars he left behind? Healed.
Or so she tells herself.
When a chance encounter brings Russell Ramsey back into her orbit—older, more successful, and carrying the same devastating smile—Natasha is blindsided.
The chemistry is instant.
The connection, maddeningly familiar.
And the wound she thought had closed reopens without her permission.
Russell made a mistake—one he's carried for years in silence. Now, he's ready to face it...and her.
But Natasha isn't the same girl who waited for answers that never came. She doesn't owe him forgiveness—or a second chance.
Because when trust has burned once, it's not so easy to reignite.
And when the past holds more than either of them are ready to admit, some flames don't die.
They just wait—on the Back Burner.
Ten years after the boy who shattered her heart disappeared without a word, Dr. Natasha Conrad has everything she ever planned for—respect, control, and the illusion of peace.
The scars he left behind? Healed.
Or so she tells herself.
When a chance encounter brings Russell Ramsey back into her orbit—older, more successful, and carrying the same devastating smile—Natasha is blindsided.
The chemistry is instant.
The connection, maddeningly familiar.
And the wound she thought had closed reopens without her permission.
Russell made a mistake—one he's carried for years in silence. Now, he's ready to face it...and her.
But Natasha isn't the same girl who waited for answers that never came. She doesn't owe him forgiveness—or a second chance.
Because when trust has burned once, it's not so easy to reignite.
And when the past holds more than either of them are ready to admit, some flames don't die.
They just wait—on the Back Burner.
523 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 11, 2025
6 people are currently reading
3 people want to read
About the author
Cindy Estelle
1 book2 followersHi. I'm Cindy.
I don't write because it feels good.
I write because I want you to feel something.
I want you to read a page, or a scene, or a single line and think, oh my fucking god, she's good. I want you to feel like you're not being told a story so much as you're sitting inside it with me, like we're watching Netflix together, pausing to judge, rewind, feel too much, and say the quiet parts out loud.
I want to be liked. I want to be read. I want to be that author, not better than anyone else, not louder, not more important, just someone whose work stays with you. Someone whose next book is always better than the last.
I care deeply about my readers. I care about what you love, what you don't, and how my writing lands. If something starts to feel watered down, rushed, or hollow, I won't give it to you. I won't publish it. I promise you that.
I pride myself on taking small, ordinary moments... a glance, a silence, a single incident, and turning them into entire novels. I like making the mundane feel extraordinary without ever tipping into unbelievable. I like stories that feel lived-in. Messy. Real. Human.
I'm not here to pretend. I'm here to connect. If you're reading, I want you to feel like you got something from me.
That's who I am.
That's the writer I'm becoming.
I don't believe in pretending to be someone I'm not, on the page or off it. I love interacting with readers, other writers, and anyone who wants to talk craft, characters, feelings, or why a single line can ruin your entire day in the best way. I genuinely enjoy feeding, the parts people love and the parts they don't, because that's how stories evolve, and so do we.
I'm not intimidated by where publishing is headed. New tools don't scare me. AI doesn't scare me. Community excites me. Curiosity excites me. Watching writing change and being part of that change feels way more interesting than guarding a gate that was never meant to stay closed.
I'm a lifelong learner, a chronic thinker, and someone who believes writing should feel alive, not frozen in what it's "supposed" to look like. I've grown a lot as a writer (I used to over-comma everything... we don't talk about that era), but one thing hasn't changed: I'm an unapologetic em-dash lover, dot-dot-dot enthusiast, and defender of rhythm over rule.
I was doing it before it was cool. I have receipts.
I self-published because I genuinely didn't realize how possible it was. I didn't know you could finish something, upload it, and hold your own book in your hands almost the next day. That part still amazes me. It felt like the curtain got pulled back and suddenly the gate was... gone.
I'm learning as I go. My formatting wasn't perfect. I didn't magically know blurbs, covers, back matter, or table of contents on day one. I've learned, fast, because I care. Because I want the work to match the intention. And because evolving alongside the world we're living in feels more honest to me than waiting for permission that may never come.
And I didn't magically come up with eighty-thousand to hire an agent, a developmental editor, a line editor, a proofreader, and then wait another year, maybe two, just to be told when I was allowed to share my own work. I already waited ten years to publish. I didn't want to wait ten more.
And let's be non-serious for a minute, this isn't life or death. It's not a dog or a cat I rescued and then realized I couldn't care for. It's writing. It's a book. It's okay it's not perfect. It's okay if it's not professionally edited. It's okay that it's learning-in-progress.
If I had eighty-thousand, maybe I would've done things differently. But knowing me? Probably not. I like being close to the work. I like touching every part of it. I like growing alongside it instead of handing it off and hoping it comes back recognizable.
I've also drastically improved my former overuse of the comma (growth matters), but I'm a firm believer in this: readers d
I don't write because it feels good.
I write because I want you to feel something.
I want you to read a page, or a scene, or a single line and think, oh my fucking god, she's good. I want you to feel like you're not being told a story so much as you're sitting inside it with me, like we're watching Netflix together, pausing to judge, rewind, feel too much, and say the quiet parts out loud.
I want to be liked. I want to be read. I want to be that author, not better than anyone else, not louder, not more important, just someone whose work stays with you. Someone whose next book is always better than the last.
I care deeply about my readers. I care about what you love, what you don't, and how my writing lands. If something starts to feel watered down, rushed, or hollow, I won't give it to you. I won't publish it. I promise you that.
I pride myself on taking small, ordinary moments... a glance, a silence, a single incident, and turning them into entire novels. I like making the mundane feel extraordinary without ever tipping into unbelievable. I like stories that feel lived-in. Messy. Real. Human.
I'm not here to pretend. I'm here to connect. If you're reading, I want you to feel like you got something from me.
That's who I am.
That's the writer I'm becoming.
I don't believe in pretending to be someone I'm not, on the page or off it. I love interacting with readers, other writers, and anyone who wants to talk craft, characters, feelings, or why a single line can ruin your entire day in the best way. I genuinely enjoy feeding, the parts people love and the parts they don't, because that's how stories evolve, and so do we.
I'm not intimidated by where publishing is headed. New tools don't scare me. AI doesn't scare me. Community excites me. Curiosity excites me. Watching writing change and being part of that change feels way more interesting than guarding a gate that was never meant to stay closed.
I'm a lifelong learner, a chronic thinker, and someone who believes writing should feel alive, not frozen in what it's "supposed" to look like. I've grown a lot as a writer (I used to over-comma everything... we don't talk about that era), but one thing hasn't changed: I'm an unapologetic em-dash lover, dot-dot-dot enthusiast, and defender of rhythm over rule.
I was doing it before it was cool. I have receipts.
I self-published because I genuinely didn't realize how possible it was. I didn't know you could finish something, upload it, and hold your own book in your hands almost the next day. That part still amazes me. It felt like the curtain got pulled back and suddenly the gate was... gone.
I'm learning as I go. My formatting wasn't perfect. I didn't magically know blurbs, covers, back matter, or table of contents on day one. I've learned, fast, because I care. Because I want the work to match the intention. And because evolving alongside the world we're living in feels more honest to me than waiting for permission that may never come.
And I didn't magically come up with eighty-thousand to hire an agent, a developmental editor, a line editor, a proofreader, and then wait another year, maybe two, just to be told when I was allowed to share my own work. I already waited ten years to publish. I didn't want to wait ten more.
And let's be non-serious for a minute, this isn't life or death. It's not a dog or a cat I rescued and then realized I couldn't care for. It's writing. It's a book. It's okay it's not perfect. It's okay if it's not professionally edited. It's okay that it's learning-in-progress.
If I had eighty-thousand, maybe I would've done things differently. But knowing me? Probably not. I like being close to the work. I like touching every part of it. I like growing alongside it instead of handing it off and hoping it comes back recognizable.
I've also drastically improved my former overuse of the comma (growth matters), but I'm a firm believer in this: readers d
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 16, 2025
I picked up Back Burner thinking I’d read a few chapters before bed and ended up staying awake half the night because I physically could not stop. This book felt so real. The emotions hit differently, the characters felt like actual people, and the way Natasha thinks and reacts made me feel seen in a way I didn’t expect.
Russell… wow. He is complicated, frustrating, and completely unforgettable. Their history, their chemistry, their pain, all of it felt so natural and honest that I kept getting pulled deeper and deeper into their story. Nothing felt forced. Nothing felt cliché. It was just raw and beautifully written.
By the time I finished, I was already wishing I had the next book. I cannot wait for Book 2!! I am letting it burn.
Russell… wow. He is complicated, frustrating, and completely unforgettable. Their history, their chemistry, their pain, all of it felt so natural and honest that I kept getting pulled deeper and deeper into their story. Nothing felt forced. Nothing felt cliché. It was just raw and beautifully written.
By the time I finished, I was already wishing I had the next book. I cannot wait for Book 2!! I am letting it burn.
November 14, 2025
This book was absolutely amazing! Natasha's and Russell's story has all the emotions. Back Burner made me want to laugh, cry, scream. I felt EVERYTHING! Back Burner definitely earned a 5 star review. I can't wait for book 2.
January 20, 2026
Cocoa approves this book.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews