by Julie Olivia
First published 2023
James Hook keeps a quiet life in Never Harbor: a cottage by the water, a six-year-old son, and a dog. When his nanny quits without warning, his family pushes one candidate: Wendy Darling, an elementary school teacher with a free summer and a painful history as his younger brother's ex-fiancée. James takes the job seriously and tries to take nothing else. But Wendy is hard to ignore. She is warm and curious, quick to laugh, and she refuses to let James retreat into his usual silence. His son takes to her fast. James takes longer, but the pull is real. The problem is layered: his brother, the family ties, the small coastal town that notices everything. James has spent years building walls, and Wendy keeps finding the gaps. Getting close to her feels reckless. Staying distant feels worse. Off the Hook is the first book in the Never Harbor series, a set of interconnected standalone contemporary romances drawn from the world of Peter Pan. It is a slow-burn, grumpy-sunshine single dad romance set against the backdrop of a tight-knit seaside community.
Genres: fiction, romance, family-life, contemporary, adult, contemporary-romance
Vibes: character-driven, contemplative, emotional, heartwarming, intimate, tender
Tropes: forced-proximity, found-family, grumpy-sunshine, second-chance, slow-burn
Setting: Never Harbor
436 pages · Paperback · Independently published