Talk of the Townies (Unabridged)

From TikTok phenom @MommaCusses comes an adorable small-town story of rumors, fake dating, and romance perfect for fans of Ali Hazelwood and Alina Jacobs.

Swinton, Oklahoma, runs on gossip.

The supply is managed by The Gaggle—a flock of civic-minded busybodies who treat the town Facebook pages like a public records database and everyone else’s life like a community project.

So when ceramic artist Didi Stephens moves to town to help her twin brother and open her dream pottery studio, the Gaggle immediately decides she’s the perfect solution to another civic concern:

Chief of Police Foster Grady needs to get over his divorce. Within days, the town has already decided Didi and Foster are secretly dating. Didi suggests the obvious solution.

The town wants a romance? Give them one.

A pretend relationship will convince the Gaggle that Foster has finally moved on and give Didi the publicity she needs to launch her studio. All they have to do is hold hands in public, show up together to town events, and survive the rumor mill. Easy.

Except Swinton is currently dealing with a serial panty thief, the Gaggle has begun planning Foster and Didi’s wedding, and the more convincing their fake relationship becomes, the harder it is to remember it started as damage control.

Because in Swinton, once you become talk of the townies, the whole town expects a happy ending. And everyone is watching.