Until the Storm Breaks: A Small-Town, Grumpy Sunshine Romance (The Midnight Men Book 1)

He’s the brooding literary darling who swore he’d never come home. She’s the bar owner who can’t afford to fall for someone who’s leaving. Coming home was his first mistake. Falling for her was his second.

Calvin Midnight arrives in Dark River with one goal: settle his mother’s estate and disappear back to Seattle. But the small Washington town he abandoned has other plans—starting with Maren Strand, who owns the Black Lantern bar and lives in the cabin on his family’s property.

Maren’s built her life on being everyone’s safe harbor, pouring drinks and keeping her own heart locked away. Now the Midnight estate might be sold, taking her home with it. She should hate Calvin for what his family could cost her. Instead, she finds herself watching him work shirtless on the porch, bringing him coffee, and forgetting why falling for a temporary neighbor is a terrible idea.

He writes devastating prose about grief but can’t speak his own truth. She fixes everyone’s problems except her own. Now they’re stuck in side-by-side cabins with paper-thin walls, dancing around an attraction that proves that the fiercest storms happen between two hearts afraid to collide.

Until the Storm Breaks is a steamy, slow-burn contemporary romance featuring forced proximity, grumpy/sunshine dynamics, and just enough push-and-pull to make you scream ‘kiss already!’ First in The Midnight Men series—where every love story leaves a mark.

Kind words from early readers:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “I’ll be honest—I was skeptical about a male author writing this kind of romance, but Nate Wilder completely won me over. He actually gets the female perspective without making it feel performative. The emotional beats are genuine, and he writes sexual tension like he understands what women (and men if they’d admit it!) actually want to read.”

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Okay so I literally could not put this down??? The whole grumpy lit professor meets sunshine bar owner thing usually isn’t my jam but WOW Until the Storm Breaks made it work. And the steam was… ahem (fanning myself to cool off). Anyway, I stayed up way too late reading!”

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“This absolutely wrecked me in the best possible way. One minute I’m giggling at their banter, the next I’m ugly crying into my wine glass. If you need a book that hits every single emotional note, this is it. Until the Storm Breaks was everything.”

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “New favorite author alert! Nate Wilder better write faster because I NEED more of this. Funny, scorching hot, emotionally satisfying ending that had me bawling and grinning like an idiot. Off to pre-order whatever the hell this man writes next!”

The Midnight Men Series:
Until the Storm Breaks (Book 1)
Until You Say Stay (Book 2)
Until the Stars Fall (Book 3)

From the Publisher

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0F1CZTGBK
Publisher ‏ : ‎ River & Ash Publishing
Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 23, 2025
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1.7 MB
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 354 pages
Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Book 1 of 4 ‏ : ‎ The Midnight Men
Best Sellers Rank: #1,935 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store) #30 in Small Town Romance (Books) #72 in Small Town Romance eBooks #73 in Enemies to Lovers Romance eBooks
Customer Reviews: 4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars (399) var dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction; P.when(‘A’, ‘ready’).execute(function(A) { if (dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction !== true) { dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction = true; A.declarative( ‘acrLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault”: true }, function (event) { if (window.ue) { ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } } ); } }); P.when(‘A’, ‘cf’).execute(function(A) { A.declarative(‘acrStarsLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault” : true }, function(event){ if(window.ue) { ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } }); });