Things We Never Got Over

What's inside (8 sections)

1. A runaway bride lands in Knockemout
2. Waylay and the room with the lock
3. Knox Morgan does not do complications
4. Nash, Lucian, Sloane and the whole town in your business
5. When Tina trouble turns scary
6. What works and what wears thin
7. Key takeaways
8. FAQ

I picked this one up because I kept seeing Knockemout all over my feed and I wanted to know if a 500 plus page small town romance could actually earn that length. Lucy Score first published it in January 2022 with That's What She Said Publishing, and it became the first book in the Knockemout series, followed by books for Nash and then for Lucian and Sloane. I went in expecting grumpy sunshine banter and I got that, plus a runaway bride, an eleven year old who steals every scene, and a town that solves problems with fists first and coffee second.

Naomi Witt is the kind of woman who irons tablecloths before a dinner party and remembers everyone's birthday. She has spent her whole adult life making herself easy to love. On the day she is supposed to get married, she instead gets a panicked call from her estranged twin sister Tina and drives straight to Knockemout, Virginia, still in nice clothes, still thinking she can fix this with a calm talk and a checklist. Knockemout is not a checklist town. It is rough around the edges, loyal to its own, and famous locally for settling arguments the old fashioned way with fists and beer, usually in that order.

The second she arrives, Tina proves she has not changed. Tina takes Naomi's car, takes the cash Naomi brought, and disappears. What she leaves behind is the part Naomi never saw coming. A niece. Waylay, eleven years old, sharp and wary and funny in the way kids get when they have had to raise themselves a little. Naomi did not know Waylay existed. Now there is no car, no money, no plan, and an eleven going on thirty kid looking at her like, are you going to leave too.

I love how Score stages that first collision with Knox Morgan. Knox is a bearded, bad tempered barber who owns the shop in town and likes his life quiet. He takes his coffee alone. He lives with his basset hound Waylon, who is basically a rug with opinions, and he has a firm rule about not getting involved with high maintenance women, especially romantic Type A women who believe in wedding vows and fresh starts. Naomi is exactly that woman, stranded right in front of him, causing a scene without trying to. He helps her because someone has to, not because he wants to, and he is annoyed at himself the whole time.

That annoyance is the engine for the first third. Naomi has nowhere to go, so she stays. She crashes in a rented room and then in a place that is barely holding together. She tries to enroll Waylay in school routines, tries to get laundry done, tries to find Tina. Knox keeps showing up with a truck, with tools, with a warning growl. He tells her to leave town. She tells him she cannot leave a kid. He tells her the kid is not her problem. She tells him that is exactly why it is her problem.

A runaway bride lands in Knockemout

Naomi Witt grew up as the good twin. That is not just a label. Tina was the wild one, the one who got into trouble, the one their parents worried about out loud. Naomi learned early that if she was helpful enough, tidy enough, agreeable enough, people stayed. She planned a whole wedding to a man who liked the polished version of her. When she runs, she is not just running from a ceremony. She is running from the whole deal she made with herself, that if she is perfect, life will hold.

Knockemout sees through that in about ten minutes. Her first day includes a parking lot standoff, a missing car, and the realization that Tina has been telling stories about her. People in town knew Tina. They did not know Naomi. To them she looks like Tina with better shoes, which is not a compliment there. Score does a great job with that mistaken identity sting. Naomi has spent years trying not to be Tina, and now she has to prove it to strangers while living Tina's mess.

She decides to stay for Waylay. That choice sounds simple and it is not. Waylay does not trust easily. She has a mother who vanishes for days, a father who is not in the picture, and a school record that shows a kid who is smart and acting out in equal measure. Naomi starts small. Food in the fridge. Clean sheets. A ride to school. Showing up when she says she will. Waylay tests her, lies to her once, watches to see if Naomi yells or leaves. Naomi does neither, which confuses them both.

The housing situation is pure Knockemout chaos. Naomi ends up in a place tied to Tina's old life, with bad locks and thin walls, and she tries to make it nice with curtains and grocery runs. Knox thinks she is insane for staying. He is probably right in a practical sense. She has no job, no car, and a town full of people who assume she will bolt. But staying is the first time in the book Naomi does something that is not about pleasing a fiance or calming her parents. She stays because a kid needs an adult who does not flinch.

I liked that Score lets Naomi be competent without making her a superhero. She was an event planner type in her old life, good with people, good with logistics, good in a crisis. Those skills translate. She can talk to a principal. She can organize a closet. She cannot punch a guy who is threatening her sister's kid, which is where Knox comes in, grumbling the whole way.

Waylay and the room with the lock

Waylay is my favorite part of this book and I am not alone in that. She is eleven, loves books, has a mouth on her, and has learned to lock her bedroom door. That detail hit me hard. Naomi notices the lock and does not make a big speech about it. She just makes sure Waylay knows she can lock it and Naomi will still be there in the morning. It is one of those small parenting beats Score nails.

Their early scenes are domestic in the best way. Naomi learns what Waylay eats, how she does homework spread all over the floor, how she pretends she does not care about new sneakers when she absolutely does. Waylay learns that Naomi sings off key while cleaning and cries in the shower so no one hears. They negotiate rules. Bedtime. Phone use. Who walks Waylon and when. Waylon, by the way, defects to the girls almost immediately. Knox's basset hound loves Naomi's couch and Waylay's bed more than his own dog bed, which Knox takes as a personal insult.

School is tricky. Waylay is bright but behind on trust. A teacher flags her attitude. Other kids know her mom's reputation. Naomi goes in ready to advocate, not to bulldoze, and that matters. She listens more than she talks. She tells Waylay the truth in kid sized pieces. Your mom is sick in a way that makes her make bad choices. That is not your fault. I am not going anywhere this week. Then she has to prove the next week too.

There is a lovely thread where Naomi gives Waylay choices instead of orders. Pick the paint for your corner. Pick the library books. Pick whether we tell Knox thank you with pie or with coffee. It sounds small, but for a kid who has had zero control, choice is safety. Waylay starts leaving her door cracked. Then open. Then she starts asking Naomi to stay while she falls asleep. I teared up at that shift because Score does not oversell it. No big hug scene with music. Just a kid asking for company.

Tina hovers over all of this like bad weather. She calls when she wants money. She shows up sweet when she wants a favor. She tells Waylay stories that make Naomi the villain. Naomi has to learn the hardest line in the book, that loving your sister does not mean handing her cash and hoping. She starts saying no, and her voice shakes the first few times. Waylay watches those nos and learns something too.

Knox Morgan does not do complications

Knox Morgan is grumpy sunshine done right because his grump has roots. He is a barber, big beard, tattoos, permanent scowl, the guy who will fix your sink at midnight but insult you while doing it. He raised himself and helped raise his younger brother Nash after their parents died. That loss shaped him. He decided a long time ago that attachment equals pain, so he keeps things short, light, and child free. No sleepovers. No promises. Just fun and then alone with Waylon and his coffee.

Naomi breaks every one of his categories. She is fussy about coasters and also brave enough to stand between Waylay and a shouting man. She bakes and also stands her ground when Knox barks orders at her in his own shop. Knox tells himself she is temporary. A runaway bride who will go back to her real life once Tina is found or the car is returned. He helps her move furniture. He drives her places. He glares at any man who looks at her. His actions keep voting yes while his mouth votes no.

The banter is sharp without feeling like a script. Naomi calls him out for being bossy. Knox calls her out for trying to manage everyone's feelings. He teaches her how to change a tire and how to tell when someone in Knockemout is lying, which is often. She teaches him that not every woman who likes candles and wedding magazines is helpless. Their physical chemistry is high from the start, and Score writes spice that is explicit and playful. There is teasing, dirty talk, and a lot of interrupted almost moments because small towns have no privacy and an eleven year old has radar.

What makes Knox more than a trope is his fear. He is not afraid of fights. He will step in front of trouble without thinking. He is afraid of staying. When Naomi asks for something steady, he panics and pulls back. He has a speech about how he ruins things and it is not self pity. He believes it. He watched his parents die, he watched Nash almost spiral after a shooting, he has seen what caring costs in a town like this. Naomi does not try to fix that belief with a pep talk. She just keeps showing up and lets him decide if he can meet her halfway.

His shop scenes are great texture. Guys come in for cuts and gossip. Knox listens more than he talks. You learn who owes whom money, who is cheating, who is trying to get clean. It is through those chairs that you feel Knockemout as a living place, not a backdrop. Knox is the unofficial mayor of the grumpy corner, and everyone knows to bring Waylon a treat if they want faster service.

Nash, Lucian, Sloane and the whole town in your business

One reason this long book does not drag for most readers is the ensemble. Nash Morgan is Knox's younger brother and the police chief, warm where Knox is cold, smiling where Knox scowls. Nash takes one look at Naomi and decides she is good people, which annoys Knox endlessly. Nash also has his own weight. He was involved in a shooting that left marks, and he is trying to be a good cop in a town that sometimes prefers street justice. His friendship with Naomi feels real. He checks on Waylay. He warns Naomi about Tina's circle without scaring her. You can see his own book being set up in how tender he is with kids and how careful he is around commitment.

Lucian Rollins is the rich, cold outsider who funds half the town and trusts no one. He shows up to meetings in expensive clothes and leaves without saying goodbye. Sloane Walton is the librarian, smart and prickly, who refuses to be impressed by money. Their sparring in this book is brief but electric. Lucian says something cutting. Sloane cuts back harder. Everyone else looks away and pretends not to listen. If you know the series, you know they get the third book, and Score plants just enough to make you curious without hijacking Naomi and Knox.

Then there is the wider net. Stef, who works with Knox and sees everything. Ivan and the guys at the bar. Liza J, who runs gossip like a newsroom. Jeremiah and the older men who will help you tow a car and then lecture you about your life choices. Honest John's diner serves as headquarters for breakfast interrogations. Naomi, who came from a world of caterers and seating charts, learns names, learns who needs pie, learns that in Knockemout people feed you when they are worried about you and yell at you when they love you.

I appreciated that the town is not cute. It is not a movie set with flower boxes. There are boarded windows, a drug problem, houses that need roofs, kids who need rides. Naomi gets a job, starts cleaning and organizing for locals, later puts her planning brain to use for town events. She earns money and respect in small increments. When she messes up, people tell her. When she does right by Waylay, people notice. That slow acceptance feels earned, not gifted because she is the heroine.

Sloane deserves a special note because librarians in romance can be shy props. This Sloane is not. She helps Waylay find books, helps Naomi find forms and phone numbers, and holds her own with Lucian in a way that made me sit up. I finished this book wanting her story immediately, which is exactly what a good ensemble should do.

When Tina trouble turns scary

For a long stretch this reads like a funny, steamy small town romance. Then Tina's other life walks in and the tone darkens. Tina is tangled with men who do not take no for an answer. There is missing money, a storage unit, threats passed through Waylay, pressure on Naomi to hand over cash she does not have. Naomi, who has always solved problems by being nice, learns that nice does not work on people who count on you being nice.

Knox flips into protector mode and it is both swoony and a little alarming. He puts himself between Naomi and trouble without asking. He calls Nash. He leans on Lucian for information. He tells Naomi to stay home, which goes over as well as you would expect. Naomi refuses to be locked in a room while men decide her future. She insists on being in the room, on knowing the plan, on calling her parents for help even though that call costs her pride. I liked that push and pull. It would have been easy to make her a damsel for the last hundred pages. Score does not. Naomi is scared and still shows up.

Waylay is at the center of the scariest part, and Score handles it without exploiting it. Waylay knows more than the adults think about who comes to the door and what her mom owes. She tries to protect Naomi by hiding things, which almost gets them hurt. The scene where Naomi realizes Waylay has been carrying adult fear in an eleven year old body is painful. Naomi does not yell. She holds her and says, you tell me next time, even if you think I will be mad. That promise matters more than any rescue.

Nash as chief is caught between brother loyalty and badge duty. He cannot just let Knox beat answers out of people, even when he wants to. Lucian uses money and contacts to get information faster than warrants allow. The climax involves a confrontation that is violent and messy, not slick. People get hurt. Knox gets hurt. Naomi has to drive, call, apply pressure to a wound, do the unglamorous things real emergencies require. Afterward there is paperwork, hospital coffee, and Waylay asking if it is over. The adults cannot fully promise that, which feels honest.

The fallout is where the romance earns its ending. Knox wants to pull away because he brought danger near them. Naomi wants to pull closer because they survived it. They fight about what safety means. Is safety never needing anyone, which is Knox's version. Or is safety having people who come when you call, which is what Naomi is learning in Knockemout. They do not solve this in one talk. It takes missed calls, a bad night, Nash telling Knox he is being an idiot in brother language, and Waylay asking Knox point blank if he is leaving too.

The final commitment lands because both change behavior, not just words. Knox stays for the boring parts, school pickup, plumbing leaks, parent teacher meetings. Naomi stops auditioning for love and starts asking for what she needs. Tina does not get a magic redemption. She gets consequences and a narrow door if she chooses help. Waylay gets stability, which is the real love story here alongside the romance.

What works and what wears thin

What works is the voice. Score writes like a friend who will make you laugh while handing you a tissue. The jokes land, especially Knox's inner grumbling and Waylay's deadpan lines. The spice is frequent and confident without stopping the plot cold. Knockemout feels specific, from Waylon shedding on every couch to the barbershop talk to Sloane shelving books while eavesdropping. Naomi's people pleaser arc is clear. You can track it from saying yes to a wedding she did not want to saying no to her twin and yes to a life she does want.

The length is both a gift and a test. At around 560 pages in the original That's What She Said Publishing edition, and a similar heft in reprints, there is room for side plots and slow burn. There are also stretches where the banter loops. Knox tells Naomi to leave. Naomi refuses. Knox helps anyway. Repeat. Tina disappears and reappears on a schedule that starts to feel timed for maximum chaos rather than human logic. Readers who love long immersive romances will not mind. Readers who want tight pacing may find the middle forty percent baggy.

Fair criticism also includes the danger plot. It works as stakes, but the villain side is thinner than the family side. The bad men are scary because they threaten a child, not because they are complex. If you come for a crime story, you will find the motives sketchy. If you come for romance and found family, you will forgive it because the emotional scenes with Waylay and Nash carry the weight.

A smaller note. Naomi's parents and ex fiance can feel like types in the early chapters, the cold mother, the distant father, the perfect on paper groom. They get more shading later, especially when Naomi stops performing for them, but the first impressions are broad. And Knox's no relationships rule gets restated a lot. I got it the third time. I did not need the seventh.

Who should pick this up. If you like grumpy sunshine with real bark, small towns where everyone knows your car, guardianship stories where the kid is a full person, and spice with banter, this is your book. If you need a short, low angst romance or you dislike on page danger around kids even when handled carefully, skip or save it for later. For me, the Waylay thread pushed it from fun to memorable. I closed it thinking less about the wedding Naomi fled and more about the home she built after, with a barber who learned to stay, a hound who claimed the best spot on the bed, and a town that finally learned her name.

FAQ

Who are the main characters in Things We Never Got Over?

Runaway bride Naomi Witt, grumpy barber Knox Morgan, her twin Tina, eleven year old Waylay, plus Nash Morgan, Lucian Rollins and Sloane Walton who lead the later books.

Is Things We Never Got Over part of a series?

Yes. It is Knockemout book 1, first published in 2022. Book 2 follows Nash and book 3 follows Lucian and Sloane, all set in Knockemout, Virginia.

Does Tina's trouble turn dangerous?

Yes, though the focus stays on Naomi, Knox and Waylay. Tina's debts bring threats to their door in the last act and force the rescue and hospital scenes.