A rising Hollywood star explores the road not taken with her first love in this tender second-chance romance by the author of The Christmas Orphans Club.

Katie’s wildest dreams have come true.

She’s a Hollywood actress, booked and busy, and campaigning for her first Oscar. Sure, she still struggles with sexist media malignment and unimaginative roles, but from where she stands today, her hometown of Dutch Ridge, Pennsylvania feels far away—and that makes it all worth it.

Because Dutch Ridge can only ever represent Drew.

Every street is filled with memories of their shared adolescence, how they were each other’s first everything, the hours they spent planning for the future. Drew was the only person in Dutch Ridge who didn’t make Katie feel crazy for dreaming big, because he did, too.

Was it their extraordinary level of ambition that brought them together at sixteen? It was definitely what drove them apart in the years after.

But now, a promise to her sister forces Katie to return for Christmas to Dutch Ridge, where she runs into Drew, who seems to have followed a different path from the one they once dreamed up. And strangely, he seems. . . happy.

As their run-ins heat up and the two can't keep themselves away from each other, Katie begins to wonder whether her accolade-filled Hollywood life really fulfils her after all.

'Back Where We Started' is an emotional second-chance romance, a story about allowing oneself to change, the addictive nature of achievement, and how we make room in our lives for what matters most.

“Becca Freeman gives a much-needed update to classic holiday tales." —Carley Fortune, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Meet Me at the Lake

© Becca Freeman 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026