The Marine and the Poet: Into the Light

An M/M Romance

A wounded Marine. A mouthy poet. One hurricane, one bookstore, one chance to choose love.

Dan
I came home from war with a head full of ghosts and a failing used bookstore I keep like a fortress—orderly, quiet, safe. Then Sebastian Aldrich blows in with a sunrise shirt and an opinion about Rilke, and suddenly my careful life is loud again. He’s all light and color; I’m built of brick and routine. When a Gulf hurricane slams into Galveston, I lock us in to ride it out. The storm strips everything down to the studs—my defenses included—and what’s left is terrifyingly simple: I want him.

Sebastian
I only meant to visit a cute coastal bookstore for the aesthetic. Instead, I walked into a grumpy ex‑Marine with forearms, a code system from the 1800s, and a stare like a challenge. So I take the job. Then an accident, a hurricane, and a week of close quarters turn banter into trust, and trust into the kind of kiss you don’t come back from. But Dan’s past has sharp edges—letters, a name, a grief—and if he won’t fight for us in the light, I’ll walk… even if leaving him breaks me.

When the waters recede, everything that matters remains:

• an island community rebuilding together
• a bookstore reborn in golden light
• and two men deciding whether courage means holding the line—or finally letting go

Tropes readers love

• Grumpy/Sunshine
• Enemies‑to‑Lovers → Found Family
• Forced Proximity (storm + only one safe place)
• Hurt/Comfort, caretaker vibes, panic‑attack grounding
• Small‑town, bookstore romance
• Age gap (older ex‑military x younger poet)
• Workplace friction (boss/employee)
• Letters from the past, choosing the future
• Public claim/grand gesture, swoony HEA

Why you’ll fall hard

• Big feelings, bigger banter, and hurricane‑level pining
• Competence crack: disaster prep, coffee on a camp stove, rebuilding a life from the floor up
• Open‑door heat that still leaves room for tenderness
• A community that becomes family (and a window‑shattering twist that proves it)

Perfect for fans of Garrett Leigh, Riley Hart, Eden Finley & Saxon James—angsty‑sweet MM romance with grit, heart, and an unapologetic happy ever after.

The Marine and the Poet: Into the Light is a full‑length standalone MM romance told in dual POV. No cheating. No cliffhanger. A hard‑won, hold‑you‑together HEA.

Content notes (handled with care): on‑page panic attacks, PTSD themes, injury from a bike accident, hurricane impact/disaster aftermath, mentions of past death, brief classist/homophobic attitudes from side characters.

Tender love story

The way the author unfolded the personalities and eventually the love between these characters was exactly what made me fall in love with this book. So much insight and detail into character building.. perfect read.