Overview

She was meant to manage the staff. Not lose her heart to the most guarded woman in the building.

After walking away from a picture-perfect life, Lindsay McAllister arrives at Carrington House, a halfway home for women starting over. Her new job should be a fresh chapter—steady, structured, safe. But nothing feels predictable once she meets Mara Vale, a brilliant teacher with a closed door and a past no one will explain.

Everyone warns her: don’t get involved. But Lindsay can’t stop noticing. And Mara? She notices right back.

Set in quiet Edinburgh corridors and charged classroom silences, The Room Upstairs is a slow-burn sapphic romance about trauma, trust, and the quiet intensity of two women learning how to stay.

For fans of:

Slow-burn intimacy and found family

Resilience and healing

Tender, character-driven romance

Trigger Warnings: Mentions of past trauma and emotional withdrawal. Ultimately a story of hope, persistence, and connection.