What We Found Instead

Preorder Gifts

Two women discover they’re in a relationship with the same man—and end up in an entirely unexpected relationship with each other.

What We Found Instead is a compulsively readable novel about unlikely friendship, the messy missteps on the way to becoming ourselves, and what can happen when we choose connection over rivalry.

Preorder before July 28 and receive two exclusive gifts:

  • Eve, Before: a 25-page ebook, a prequel to What We Found Instead, yours immediately upon signup

  • After the Last Page: a ticket to an intimate, spoiler-rich conversation with Heidi and Anena, the best friend who helped inspired the novel

More About Those Preorder Gifts:

  • Ebook: Eve, Before

    Before you meet Eve Moretti at Still Lake, there are a few decades you don’t know about.

    Eve, Before takes you back to where she started: a childhood spent at a remote Northern Ontario lodge, learning to shingle roofs and set out on quests and dance too close to the edge of the dock. And then the summer everything changed, and the long road that followed—through woodworking shops and New York City crowds and the slow erosion of a life that never quite fit.

    This exclusive prequel companion to What We Found Instead gives you Eve’s full history before the novel begins: where her love of craft came from, what she was running from, and why Still Lake called her back.

    Delivered to your inbox the moment you sign up.

  • Readers Salon: After the Last Page

    Most book events can’t talk about the ending. This one is all about the ending. (Plus the beginning, plus everything in between.)

    After the Last Page is an intimate conversation between Heidi and her best friend Anena—the person who helped inspire this novel and was present for every stage of its becoming. No spoiler warnings, just the conversation that could only happen after you’ve read the book, plus an inside peek into where some of Eve and Maggie’s wounds, destructive patterns, and ultimate growth come from. (Hint: Anena just might be the Maggie to Heidi’s Eve.)

    Come as a fly on the wall. Bring your questions, theories, and feelings! This is the inner circle version, and nothing is off limits.

    Taking place in the summer of 2026, roughly one month after publication.

    Your ticket arrives by email closer to the date.

Here’s How to Claim Your Gifts:

STEP 1: Preorder What We Found Instead

You can order your copy in any format (paper, audio, ebook), from any online retailer or bricks-and-mortar store of your choice.


STEP 2: Let me know you preordered

Send your proof of purchase and claim your gifts using the form below. (If you’ve already purchased and misplaced your receipt, give those details in the “Receipt/confirmation/order number” space.)

STEP 3: Receive your gifts!

Eve, Before will arrive right away. (Check your promotions/junk folder if you don’t see it.) Your ticket to After the Last Page will arrive by email closer to the date, along with an opportunity to submit questions in advance.

Preorder in the U.S.
Preorder in the U.S.
Preorder in Canada
Preorder in Canada

More About What We Found Instead

A moving and compulsively readable novel about two very different women and the unlikely bond they forge in the wreckage of one man’s betrayal.

Maggie feels behind for thirty-five―still unsure about her career path, still living with roommates and struggling through a never-ending PhD―but at least she’s certain about her relationship with her boyfriend, Karl. That is until she hears the voicemail on Karl’s phone from some woman named Eve, who’s using words Maggie can’t process like baby, love, and tonight. In an instant, Maggie’s trust in Karl unravels, but she doesn’t know the whole truth―and only one person can help her find it: Eve.

Eve didn’t flee New York and the stress of running her handcrafted furniture business just to be dragged into someone else’s drama. She likes the quiet rhythm of her Northern Ontario lake life: her dog, her cozy home, her dependable routines―and Karl, at least on the weekends when he’s not working in Toronto. So when a stranger presses for a meeting, Eve is wary. She doesn’t like her earnestness, her probing questions, her expectation of solidarity. And she certainly doesn’t like the news Maggie delivers: Karl is her boyfriend too.

Maggie and Eve’s tense encounter upends both of their lives. They expect to never see each other again, but instead they’re thrown back together―forced to face their resentments and insecurities head-on, pushed into vulnerability with the one person whose very existence caused their heartbreak.

What We Found Instead is a captivating and insightful look at complex relationships and a love letter to female friendship, asking us to consider questions about love, loyalty, and what we owe to ourselves and to others.

Coming July 28, 2026.

Order in the U.S.
Order in the U.S.
Order in Canada
Order in Canada

Photo credit: Leah Fae

Heidi Reimer is a novelist and writing coach. Her debut novel,  The Mother Act, received a starred review in Publishers Weekly, praise in the New York Times Book Review, and attention from CBC Radio’s The Next Chapter, Chatelaine, and People. Her second novel, What We Found Instead, arrives July 28, 2026—a story of two women who meet as romantic rivals and end up choosing each other. Early readers have called it “the rom-com I didn’t know I needed” and “an inspiring take on the true meaning of partnership,” praising its “vulnerable strength” and “fierce fragility.” Heidi has published in  LitHub, Chatelaine,  The New Quarterly,  Literary Mama, and the anthologies  The M Word: Conversations About Motherhood  and  Body & Soul: Stories for Skeptics and Seekers.