Drawn To The Old Town: An Old Town Romances Novel

Poppy Lane needs a reset — and a deadline.

A month-long residency at Harbourlight Studios in Margate’s Old Town should be perfect: wet pavements that gleam like mirrors, gulls with opinions, the constant hush of the sea, and a studio space where she can finally create without her normal life pressing in at the edges.

Except her assigned studio springs a leak on day one.

The only solution is a shared schedule in Theo Mercer’s print studio: Poppy gets the evenings; Theo gets the mornings; and there’s a strict, non-negotiable rule about not touching anything. Theo is a talented printmaker with a reputation for being difficult, and his studio is organised to the point of intimidation. Poppy is cheerful, curious, and determined not to let a little inconvenience ruin her shot.

Forced proximity turns into reluctant teamwork when the residency programme demands a public workshop — and Theo is volunteered as “support”. Between planning sessions over coffee, late-night poster design, and ink-splattered practice runs, Poppy begins to see the softness under Theo’s sharp edges… and Theo starts noticing all the small ways Poppy makes a place feel like home.

But just as Margate starts to matter, Poppy’s agent calls with an offer that could change everything — and Theo’s fear of losing what he loves has always made him pull back first.

In a town that quietly adopts you if you let it, can two people who’ve learned to expect endings choose something real?

Drawn To The Old Town is a standalone contemporary romance featuring forced proximity, small-town-seaside charm, found community, and an open-door love story with plenty of heart.