Museology Series by Nellie Wilson

Emmy Bonaire has built a successful career as a historian by anticipating the worst outcome and avoiding it at all costs. What she couldn’t foresee was her history museum having to combine with the science museum across campus. Even worse, Emmy now has to share an office and design an exhibition with an annoyingly attractive fellow curator, Dr. Ryan Andersson, a paleontologist whose optimism is only topped by Emmy’s skepticism of him.Ryan considers himself a likeable guy... moreEmmy Bonaire has built a successful career as a historian by anticipating the worst outcome and avoiding it at all costs. What she couldn’t foresee was her history museum having to combine with the science museum across campus. Even worse, Emmy now has to share an office and design an exhibition with an annoyingly attractive fellow curator, Dr. Ryan Andersson, a paleontologist whose optimism is only topped by Emmy’s skepticism of him.Ryan considers himself a likeable guy. That is until he meets Emmy. She seems immune to his midwestern charm and attempts at professional collaboration. Not one to let something go, Ryan embarks on a personal campaign for Emmy to like him. For the museum’s sake, of course. Not at all because the gruff historian piques his interest.As Emmy and Ryan evolve from begrudging co-workers to steamy stolen kisses in the archives, their academic work benefits as well. But when their collaborative exhibition becomes critical to both of their successes—while their career goals become further unaligned—extinction seems imminent. less

Phoebe Whitford has mostly drifted through life, grateful that without a set plan, she completed graduate school, settled into a career, and become the go-to advice giver for her people. But after first watching her brother and then her best friend fall in love, she’s wondering when - or if - it will ever be her turn. One night, at the bar she’s been frequenting for years, Phoebe asks her favorite bartender a question that changes everything. Declan McFadden loves his bar... morePhoebe Whitford has mostly drifted through life, grateful that without a set plan, she completed graduate school, settled into a career, and become the go-to advice giver for her people. But after first watching her brother and then her best friend fall in love, she’s wondering when - or if - it will ever be her turn. One night, at the bar she’s been frequenting for years, Phoebe asks her favorite bartender a question that changes everything. Declan McFadden loves his bar. It may not have been the dream his family had for him, but he’s built a life he’s proud of, cobbled together like the tattoos on his body. Six years ago, he asked Phoebe out and she responded with silence. Content with being friends, he still gets a buzz every time she visits. When Phoebe proposes an arrangement between them, he agrees, grateful for any time with her can get. Maybe away from the bar, they could become something more. The more time they spend together, the more Phoebe and Dec learn about their individual desires and struggles. How can two independent people rely on each other to help them make their best futures? And does that future include each other? Educated is a story about figuring out what it means to be an adult as a millennial, setting boundaries with careers, friends, and family, and being open to doing it with a partner by your side. less

EXHIBITED (verb)1. to have publically displayed in an art gallery or museum2. to have manifested or deliberately displayed a quality or behaviorJeremy Rinci, exhibit designer, was raised in New York City and educated in Philadelphia, before ending up in Colorado in search of...something. After a few years (and one pandemic) working for a University Museum, Jeremy is looking for a spark. He’s got friends, he has a career, he even has a house, but something is still missing... moreEXHIBITED (verb)1. to have publically displayed in an art gallery or museum2. to have manifested or deliberately displayed a quality or behaviorJeremy Rinci, exhibit designer, was raised in New York City and educated in Philadelphia, before ending up in Colorado in search of...something. After a few years (and one pandemic) working for a University Museum, Jeremy is looking for a spark. He’s got friends, he has a career, he even has a house, but something is still missing. It's the perfect time to reopen his exhibit consulting business, because what is being in your thirties for if not floundering?Nathaniel Davis (not Nate, just Davis) is a forest ranger, but he prefers to fade into the background, for people to focus on the nature around him instead. Colorado is different from his West Virginia upbringing, but something about the forest in the Rockies makes sense to him in a way not much else has in his life. When tasked with updating the Visitors Center at the National Forest, Davis hires Jeremy to help with the design. Quickly, the two men become unlikely colleagues and even unlikelier friends.Their time together illuminates plenty of surprising common ground, including a shared attraction. Navigating a new relationship is difficult, but navigating a relationship in two cities is harder. On tender dates at art museums, baseball games, and fire watch towers, Jeremy and Davis share their drastically different pasts and perspectives – and different pasts result in differing expectations of what love looks like to each man. Can Jeremy and Davis learn to bridge the gap together and find a way to put their hearts on display? less