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True and Plumb
Not yet published
Expected 27 Oct 26She's forty-seven. She's never wanted a woman before. She's about to.
Nova Kessler hired Danni Ruiz to tear down a wall. She did not expect to spend eight weeks wondering what it would feel like to have Danni’s hands on her instead of the house.
At forty-seven and newly divorced, Nova is still figuring out what she wants when Danni walks into her home with a tool belt, a carpenter’s pencil in her hair, and the unnerving habit of actually listening when Nova speaks.
Danni is forty-nine, blunt, capable, and exactly the kind of woman Nova has never let herself want.
The attraction builds somewhere between sawdust and shared lunches, lingering touches and looks that last too long.
Then one Saturday morning, Danni shows up with no tools and no professional reason to be there.
They don’t make it past the stairs.
But wanting each other turns out to be the easy part.
Danni has learned not to get attached to women in the middle of starting over. Nova has spent twenty years being told what was practical, reasonable, and best for everyone else. Now she has an ex-husband watching from the sidelines, two children whose lives are changing with hers, and a neighborhood beginning to talk.
And the renovation still has weeks to go.
The wall Nova was told could never come down was never load-bearing at all.
She’s beginning to wonder what else she was wrong about.
True and Plumb is a spicy later-in-life sapphic romance featuring a soft-butch contractor, a newly divorced English teacher, forced proximity, slow-burn tension, explicit on-page heat, family, small-town gossip, and a guaranteed happy ending.
Nova Kessler hired Danni Ruiz to tear down a wall. She did not expect to spend eight weeks wondering what it would feel like to have Danni’s hands on her instead of the house.
At forty-seven and newly divorced, Nova is still figuring out what she wants when Danni walks into her home with a tool belt, a carpenter’s pencil in her hair, and the unnerving habit of actually listening when Nova speaks.
Danni is forty-nine, blunt, capable, and exactly the kind of woman Nova has never let herself want.
The attraction builds somewhere between sawdust and shared lunches, lingering touches and looks that last too long.
Then one Saturday morning, Danni shows up with no tools and no professional reason to be there.
They don’t make it past the stairs.
But wanting each other turns out to be the easy part.
Danni has learned not to get attached to women in the middle of starting over. Nova has spent twenty years being told what was practical, reasonable, and best for everyone else. Now she has an ex-husband watching from the sidelines, two children whose lives are changing with hers, and a neighborhood beginning to talk.
And the renovation still has weeks to go.
The wall Nova was told could never come down was never load-bearing at all.
She’s beginning to wonder what else she was wrong about.
True and Plumb is a spicy later-in-life sapphic romance featuring a soft-butch contractor, a newly divorced English teacher, forced proximity, slow-burn tension, explicit on-page heat, family, small-town gossip, and a guaranteed happy ending.
112 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication October 27, 2026
About the author
Stevie Beck
2 books2 followersStevie has been writing novellas in her spare time since COVID, back in 2020. After years of collecting her stories and not planning to do anything with them, her wife encouraged her to publish them. Stevie pushed back, afraid of rejection and thinking nobody would like her writing.
Unbeknownst to her, her wife sent on her first novella, True and Plumb, to Stevie’s best friend, Jay, in early 2026. When Jay called Stevie to fess up to the ruse, he said something to the effect of “I’m a gay man, so I had to skim over the *** scenes, but this stuff is good, dude.” At 44 years old, Stevie is pretty proud that she can still be considered “dude”, and even more proud that her BFF, a reading snob, gave her the thumbs up.
This gave her the courage to put her work out there and see what happens! If anything at all, she’s just happy that she did it.
If you have a talent and you’re not sharing it with the world, do like Stevie and do that thing, or if you’re from the South, “do that thang”.
True and Plumb and Never Jeff are her first two novellas in a series of 5 standalones and are available for preorder now.
Unbeknownst to her, her wife sent on her first novella, True and Plumb, to Stevie’s best friend, Jay, in early 2026. When Jay called Stevie to fess up to the ruse, he said something to the effect of “I’m a gay man, so I had to skim over the *** scenes, but this stuff is good, dude.” At 44 years old, Stevie is pretty proud that she can still be considered “dude”, and even more proud that her BFF, a reading snob, gave her the thumbs up.
This gave her the courage to put her work out there and see what happens! If anything at all, she’s just happy that she did it.
If you have a talent and you’re not sharing it with the world, do like Stevie and do that thing, or if you’re from the South, “do that thang”.
True and Plumb and Never Jeff are her first two novellas in a series of 5 standalones and are available for preorder now.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Review of advance copy
That was a nice and sweet novella. I liked that the two main characters were over 40 and had already been through quite a bit in life. The connection between them was there right away, but I did find some things too rushed, too fast. I felt like the sparks and the build-up of tension were a little lacking. I didn’t see the first kiss coming at all—it felt too early to me.
The renovation of the house, on the other hand, was described in great detail. I like stories where houses are renovated or remodeled, but not when there’s so little time for the relationship to develop.
An okay read with sweet scenes featuring healthy communication between the main characters.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
The renovation of the house, on the other hand, was described in great detail. I like stories where houses are renovated or remodeled, but not when there’s so little time for the relationship to develop.
An okay read with sweet scenes featuring healthy communication between the main characters.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Review of advance copy
The Wall Was Never Load-Bearing opens with a quietly devastating image: a lie about a house that was really a lie about a marriage. Four months into her divorce, forty-seven-year-old English teacher Nova Kessler hires contractor Danni Ruiz to finally renovate the home she's free to reshape on her own terms. Danni, forty-nine, blunt and capable, has a habit of asking Nova the one question no one bothered to ask in twenty years: what do you want? From the first pages, the chemistry between them is real, even as Danni stays deliberately businesslike — she has a rule about women mid-reinvention, and she knows better than to become attached to someone using her as a doorway out of one life and into the next.
What makes this novel work is the contrast between Danni's directness and Nova's slow return to herself. Danni's plainspokenness isn't cold; it's the thing that helps Nova rebuild her confidence alongside her house. Over eight weeks of sawdust, shared lunches, and an old sketchbook, the rule about not getting attached becomes harder and harder to hold onto, and the eventual pressure from outside — gossip, an ex-husband's pointed "concern," Danni's own guarded history — forces both women to ask whether caution is still protecting them or simply keeping them shut.
It's a short read, and that brevity is both a strength and a small drawback — a few sections feel rushed, as though the story wanted a bit more room to breathe. Still, it's the kind of book that's perfect for one long, satisfying evening, warm and honest without overstaying its welcome.
I voluntarily wrote this review after receiving a free copy of the book.
What makes this novel work is the contrast between Danni's directness and Nova's slow return to herself. Danni's plainspokenness isn't cold; it's the thing that helps Nova rebuild her confidence alongside her house. Over eight weeks of sawdust, shared lunches, and an old sketchbook, the rule about not getting attached becomes harder and harder to hold onto, and the eventual pressure from outside — gossip, an ex-husband's pointed "concern," Danni's own guarded history — forces both women to ask whether caution is still protecting them or simply keeping them shut.
It's a short read, and that brevity is both a strength and a small drawback — a few sections feel rushed, as though the story wanted a bit more room to breathe. Still, it's the kind of book that's perfect for one long, satisfying evening, warm and honest without overstaying its welcome.
I voluntarily wrote this review after receiving a free copy of the book.
Review of advance copy received from Author
I personally have been DYING for a sapphic romance novel with characters already along in life. It's sort of a second chance. Sort of a slow burn with so much pining and spending time on the things we all feel when we find our person but are too scared to say it. I love that this book touches on it all. From meet cute to uncertainty to previous heartbreak to starting over to being authentically you to acceptance to learning how to be you after someone else had been telling you who you are. It was so well written and unique in both it's story and writing. And it will stick in your brain long after you put it down. As any good book should.
Review of advance copy
A quick-read novella that you will instantly become absorbed in. The slow burn and the undeniable chemistry between Nova and Danni are spectacular. It's nice to read a sapphic novel that focuses on a realistic romance. Elements of personal struggle, self-discovery, and living authentically are central to this book. The bedroom scenes are realistic without domination. Very, very sweet book.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews