Ego Check is a 16,200-word contemporary romance novella set in the gritty art world of Worcester, Massachusetts. This new adult college romance delivers the "he falls first" trope with rivals-to-lovers tension and a reformed rake who discovers he's not so reformed after all—and it also has some elements of a “friends with benefits” story. When a golden boy with a Turkish immigrant empire and a girl who's spent her life invisible collide, their chemistry ignites something neither expected—and their wounds might be the only thing they have in common.

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Sofia has spent her whole life being told she's not enough. Her family made sure of that. Now she's an art student buried in a bureaucratic job she hates, surviving on charcoal sketches and the only two friends who actually see her. She's made peace with her invisibility—until Eren Tekin walks into her life like he owns the room.

Eren is gorgeous, arrogant, and suffocating under his family's expectations. The golden child of a Turkish immigrant shipping empire, he's expected to take over the business and marry the right woman—a match they've been pushing since he was fifteen. But all he wants is to paint. When he meets Sofia, the only person who doesn't fall for his charm, he's fascinated. She sees through his performance. She makes him laugh. She makes him real.

What starts as playful banter becomes something deeper. Eren falls first—hard. Sofia insists it's just fun, too afraid to trust. But when Eren's family's matchmaking scheme explodes at a glamorous Boston auction, Sofia's worst fears are confirmed: she's never going to be chosen. Eren must finally decide—his family's legacy or the woman who's made him feel like himself for the first time.

Can Sofia learn to believe she's worth fighting for? Will Eren find the courage to say no to everything he's been told to want? And when the truth comes out, will their love survive the weight of golden things?

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Ego Check delivers all the steam, banter, and emotional payoff romance readers crave—with psychological depth that lingers. It's for anyone who's ever felt invisible, ever been told they're not enough, ever been afraid to trust. The art, the Turkish tea, the found family—everything vibrates with authenticity. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll fall in love right alongside Sofia and Eren. Because everyone deserves to be chosen. And sometimes, the biggest ego needs the biggest check.

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