Burn the Menu

Two rival business owners. One small kitchen. The heat is about to reach a boiling point.

Harper Mason is barely keeping her head above water. Running her late father's struggling diner, The Maple Counter, means 4:00 AM wake-up calls, endless hidden debts, and absolutely zero time for a personal life. She needs order. She needs control. What she definitely doesn't need is the trendy, loud, annoyingly vibrant coffee shop that just opened across the street.

Rae Hwang is all sunshine, espresso shots, and beautiful chaos. Nightshade Coffee is her fresh start after a relationship that left her feeling like she was always "too much." She's ready to win over the town of Lakeshore, one perfectly crafted latte at a time-even if the grumpy, flannel-wearing diner owner across the street glares at her through the window every morning.

When a local festival forces them to co-chair and share a cramped, overheated kitchen, their professional rivalry ignites into something undeniable. Amidst the scent of cardamom and maple-glazed pork belly, Harper's rigid walls begin to crack under Rae's warmth, and Rae realizes there's a fiercely protective, beating heart beneath Harper's scowl.

But with the diner's debts looming and old scars resurfacing, can they figure out a recipe for a future together, or will the heat in the kitchen burn them both?

Burn the Menu is a high-heat, standalone contemporary sapphic romance featuring a grumpy-meets-sunshine dynamic, delicious forced proximity, and a cozy small-town autumn aesthetic.