First published 2013
Maris Carrington leaves her Chicago denim design studio behind when her father dies and she must settle his estate. She moves into a New England cottage in Stony Point, where an old home movie hidden in the attic changes everything. The German shepherd her father left her becomes an unexpected companion as Maris reconnects with childhood friends along the weathered boardwalk. Her design career had felt empty, but now fried clam dinners and carousel rides stir memories of lost love. The reunion isn't simple. One friend has died, another struggles with unemployment and marriage troubles, a third regrets a major life choice, and the fourth searches for the mother connection she never had. Against the backdrop of seaside cottages and a shuttered beach hangout, with lagoon grasses whispering and a vintage jukebox playing, Maris must decide if she can truly return to who she once was.
Genres: fiction, contemporary, contemporary-romance, family-drama
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, second-chance
Setting: Chicago, New England, Stony Point
Period: 21st-century
330 pages · Paperback