Meghan Gray hasn’t returned to the golden sands of Hatteras Island since her beloved Pappy passed away 10 years ago. But with her life in New York falling apart—and her dreams of becoming a successful chef going up smoke—she quits her waitress job and heads back home on a hot summer’s day, hoping she’ll find some answers there.

Jess loves her work as a high-profile lawyer in Charleston. But when her marriage implodes, she retreats to her childhood home on Cape Cod with her thirty-year-old daughter, Caitlin, hoping to regroup with her longtime best friend, Alison. Alison’s career has taken a hit after twenty years as an editor for the magazine Cape Cod Living. But when she learns her beloved bookstore on the Cape is looking for new ownership, a new dream starts to form. As the two friends reopen the bookstore, they also open themselves up to the magic of second chances.

Traveling writer and researcher, Stella Fisher, is working in London when she's called home to her family’s farmhouse in Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee to help her mother through the first Christmas without her father. Compounding the situation, her younger sister Lily has run off to get married without telling anyone.

When her gram passes away, Melanie Simpson feels utterly lost. She has no idea what to do with her life after she has devoted years to looking after her beloved grandmother. But Gram’s will may hold the answer, instructing Melanie to use her inheritance to buy a crumbling house in Rosemary Bay. They used to visit the village every summer, sit by the sparkling gulf on a beach the color of a fresh pearl, and daydream about turning the place on the corner into a bed and breakfast.

About to land her biggest deal yet, Leigh Henderson is on her game. She’s prepared for this, and nothing can get in her way. Except Rebecca Mayer, who’d sashayed in a few weeks ago with a former client list that would fill the entire hallway to Leigh’s office if she laid it out end to end. When her boss unexpectedly offers the deal to Rebecca and tells Leigh he’s letting her go, Leigh finds herself without a job.

Ivy Marin’s life implodes after discovering that her late husband had spent their life savings on a beach house. Strapped for cash as an art teacher and with nowhere to go, Ivy and her recently jilted sister head to Summer Beach to recreate their lives. If only renovating a historical home didn’t unveil a host of hidden secrets in the beachside community - and the mayor wasn’t her former high school crush.

Elizabeth Holloway's sparkling world comes crashing down around her when her boyfriend of seven years drops the bomb that he’s leaving her—at Christmas. In an attempt to piece her life back together, she suddenly finds herself 700 miles from her New York City home, trudging through the snow, back at her childhood farm in the Great Smoky Mountains.

Hallie Flynn’s favorite place in the world is her great Aunt Clara’s beautiful beachside house, with its inviting wraparound porch and enchanting views across the sparkling turquoise ocean. For Hallie, going to Firefly Beach, filled with magical memories, feels like coming home, but in one moment Hallie is left broken-hearted when her adored Aunt Clara passes away. As always, Aunt Clara has thought of everything. In her last letter she included a bucket list Hallie wrote as a child, for Hallie to complete.

Hannah Townsend has the perfect job at a New York magazine, a small but elegant apartment in the Upper West Side, and a successful beau named Miles Monahan. This year, she’s leaving the icy city sludge for sunshine! She’s got tickets for two to Barbados, and she’s meeting Miles at the airport for a week of cocktails, sandy beaches, and the music of steel drums.

For Sydney Flynn, her treasured family home, Starlight Cottage, is her sanctuary. The house on the beach, surrounded by glittering turquoise waters, is the perfect place for her fresh start, piecing her life back together after it fell apart. That’s until her knees almost buckle at the sight of Nate Henderson. Nate is back to make it up to Sydney, but can she forgive him for all the heartbreak he caused? And it’s not only about her - Sydney is a single mother to Robby, her whole world, and she won’t let just anyone into their lives. Can she trust that Nate has really changed?

A Barefoot Summer is a beautiful, touching story about coming home, the importance of family, and the special place that first loves hold in our hearts. Sometimes you find perfect where you least expect it. Libby Potter has just lost the perfect job, the perfect apartment and the perfect boyfriend. Moving back to the home town that she couldn’t wait to escape when she was younger was definitely not on her to-do list. Especially as it means running into the man whose heart she broke when she left.

Christmas is a time for family... isn't it? Allie Richfield loves Christmas, so when she lands a job as House Manager for the amazing Ashford Estate - which includes organizing the Marley family festivities - she is in her element. With a budget bigger than her life savings and a team of staff, how hard can it be? As one-by-one she meets the Marleys, she’s about to find out... Allie’s new boss, Robert, might be gorgeous, but he’s also colder than the snow outside and refuses to come home for Christmas.

When Meredith Collins was a child, the little beach town of Cape Sanctuary lived up to its name. Spending summers there with her grandmother, Meredith finally felt safe and loved. Now she’s returning in disgrace. Her late ex-husband swindled investors out of millions of dollars and made Meredith a figure of scorn—though she knew nothing about his scheme. But she still has the beach cottage she inherited from her grandmother and half ownership of the local café. It’s a place to work and earn a little money.

For Faith, the one summer she can't forget is when she fell in love as a teenager - only for her sister, Casey, to steal her man. Now, at the request of her beloved 90-year-old grandmother, Faith has agreed to a family holiday - at their childhood beach house, where it all began. Faith hasn't seen her sister in years but is finally ready to forgive and forget, enjoy the sunshine and relive happy memories. What she's not ready for is meeting Jake Buchanan.

For Emily Tate, returning to her charming childhood home Oyster Bay is like coming up for air after the fast pace of her city life. At the farm her grandfather built, surrounded by sister Rachel’s chatter, Gram’s butter biscuits, and the soft, white sand, Emily is reminded exactly who she is and what she holds most dear. When Emily starts work at elegant Water’s Edge Inn, Charles Peterson, the handsome new owner, asks for her help. He wants to expand and needs Emily to teach him the local ways, so he can convince the planning commission....

Samantha Owens' estranged stepfather has died, leaving her his cottage in Nantucket - a place she fled years ago, never planning to return. As a single mom, Samantha can't afford to pass up a financial windfall like oceanfront property. So she travels home to fix up the house and sell it...never suspecting that Landon Reed still lives two doors down. As their long-dormant romance begins to bud again, Samantha must face a past that separated her from the God of her childhood. And she must tell Landon why she fled the island in the first place - a secret that could tear them apart.

When Rachel Shaw and Jack Fletcher meet on a sunny Georgia barrier island, it seems like the perfect start to a romance. There's just one problem—neither is the least bit interested in falling in love. They're simply looking for peace, and time to work through their losses. But Rachel's Aunt Eleanor and Fletch's Gram have a few surprises in store for these two wounded souls.

Abby Harrington’s family has dedicated their lives to cultivating the family vineyard and collecting vintage wines. But it takes only one night for the priceless collection to vanish, stolen during Abby’s grandparents’ sixtieth anniversary celebration. Then a devastating plane crash leaves her grandfather clinging to life in intensive care. Desperate to take action, Abby sets out to discover who stole the precious wine - and why. The clues lead her to dark truths about her family she is not prepared to face.

Mira is a mermaid on a mission. It’s time to leave the ocean. Mira Belshaw has been at sea for...well, she doesn’t know how many years. It’s hard to keep track of time when you live in the ocean. But after enough time, the salt water triggers the desire to procreate, and her time is up. Finding a mate is the most important thing to her right now, and to do that, she has to return to the place where she was last human - the coastal city of Saltford.

Abby Foster is a fish out of water in the Maine coastal town of Jewell Cove. The crumbling Foster estate, left to her by a relative she never even knew, has everyone's eyes on her - an eerie reminder of the long-buried family secrets that have haunted her... forever. Single, stunning, and sometimes too strong-willed for her own good, Abby's plan is to sell the house and hightail it back to Nova Scotia.

When Emmanuelle Peroni’s father - and mayor of her town - asks her to help rehab Cooper Endicott’s image, she’s horrified. Cooper drives her crazy in every way possible. But he’s also her father’s protégé, and she can’t say no to him without him finding out the reason why: Cooper and her have a messy past. So Emmanuelle reluctantly launches her father’s grand plan to get this Casanova someone to settle down with and help him lose his Lothario reputation.

Sophia Prescott is still mending from the embarrassment of a highly publicized divorce from a pro football player, and the now-single mother is back in Sunset Cove, surrounded by the supporting love of her family and the Sand Queens. Sophia doesn’t think there’s any hope for starting over until an unexpected trip to the pediatrician’s office gives her a second chance after all.

Rosa Santos is cursed by the sea - at least, that's what they say. Dating her is bad news, especially if you're a boy with a boat. But Rosa feels more caught than cursed - caught between cultures and choices, between her abuela, a beloved healer and pillar of their community, and her mother, an artist who crashes in and out of her life like a hurricane. As her college decision looms, Rosa collides - literally - with Alex Aquino, the mysterious boy with tattoos of the ocean whose family owns the marina.

Caroline serves others with little time to enjoy the sweeter parts of life. Until her old boyfriend returns to town - and she's given a second chance at first love. Life hasn't always been so sweet for Caroline Sweeny. She sacrifices her desires for others - unlike her mother who abandoned their family years ago. But when a friend challenges her to accept an exciting job adventure in Spain, Caroline says "yes" to a new destiny. But before she can pack her bags, Caroline suddenly finds herself the new owner of the run-down Frogmore Cafe - and forced to choose: Her friends or her future?

Iris Buckley is sew ready for a change. After the death of her beloved grandfather, Iris decides to stay in her Maine hometown to help out her widowed grandmother, Anne-and bring her online hand-made apron designs to real-time retail life. Her and Anne's shop, Ruffles & Bows, is set to include all the latest and vintage linen fashions, a studio for sewing groups and classes, and a friendly orange cat. The only thing that they were not planning to have on the property? A skeleton in the basement.

Callie Weaver and best friend Olivia Dixon have finally done it: put their life savings into the beach house they admired through childhood summers, on the dazzling white sand of North Carolina’s Outer Banks. They’re going to buff the salt from its windows, paint its sun-bleached sidings, and open it as a bed and breakfast. Callie’s too busy to think about her love life, but when she catches the attention of local heartthrob Luke Sullivan, his blue eyes and easy smile make it hard to say no.

After the loss of her single father, Josie Wills gives up her dreams and returns home to take care of her autistic teenage brother Nick. But she doesn’t just leave her dreams behind; she has to leave her first real love Julian Russell. Having been the mother figure for Nick his entire life, stepping into the role of parent comes easily for Josie. She adores Nick, and taking care of him makes her feel closer to her mother who never had the chance to see them grow up.

They say there’s a covered bridge that heals the sick and mends the broken. Actual miracles have happened within its green clapboard protective shell. When Alicia Silver faces spending her first Christmas without her fiancé, she knows that the only way she can manage through the season is if she has a little divine intervention. So she heads to the snowy Smoky Mountains to visit that bridge, hoping to reach her fiancé somehow. But she isn’t expecting to encounter Leo Whitaker when she gets there. He, too, is looking for answers. His father is missing.

Meghan Gray hasn’t returned to the golden sands of Hatteras Island since her beloved Pappy passed away 10 years ago. But with her life in New York falling apart—and her dreams of becoming a successful chef going up smoke—she quits her waitress job and heads back home on a hot summer’s day, hoping she’ll find some answers there.

Traveling writer and researcher, Stella Fisher, is working in London when she's called home to her family’s farmhouse in Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee to help her mother through the first Christmas without her father. Compounding the situation, her younger sister Lily has run off to get married without telling anyone.

When her gram passes away, Melanie Simpson feels utterly lost. She has no idea what to do with her life after she has devoted years to looking after her beloved grandmother. But Gram’s will may hold the answer, instructing Melanie to use her inheritance to buy a crumbling house in Rosemary Bay. They used to visit the village every summer, sit by the sparkling gulf on a beach the color of a fresh pearl, and daydream about turning the place on the corner into a bed and breakfast.

When Mia Broadhurst’s grandmother passes away, Mia returns to the quaint seaside village of Winstead Cape, where Grandma Ruth ran the historic lighthouse on the edge of the coast. Mia can’t bear to part with the last piece of her grandma - the lighthouse that has been in their family for generations - but with her life back in New York, she has no choice. With the snow falling, Mia works with real estate agent Will Thacker to restore the old lighthouse. She tries not to get lost in his deep blue eyes that match the Atlantic Ocean. After all, she’s only back for Christmas.

Brooklyn-based Hannah is a bestselling author struggling to write her second book after personal losses. Her older sister, Sara, still lives in Chatham, Cape Cod, where they grew up, and is married with four children. Once a dedicated librarian, Sara dreams of reviving her love affair with literature, but instead, she is stuck with too many family responsibilities and a fizzling marriage.

When Katelyn Loveland’s car veered off a winding Appalachian Mountain road, she thought she was done for. That is until Cooper Robinson, local sheriff’s deputy, came to her rescue. And though Katie narrowly escaped her brush with death, she still fell. Hard. She wasn’t the only one. But soon Cooper learns that the woman he’s more attracted to than any he’s ever met is his brother’s new girlfriend - and therefore unquestionably off limits. Yet, despite their best efforts, Cooper and Katie can’t seem to avoid running into each other.

Thirty-four-year-old Ruby Bridge is a not-too-successful comedienne who uses her mother, a nationally-syndicated "moral and spiritual counselor" as the main fodder for her cynical, rather bitter humor. Her mother Nora, long divorced from Ruby's father, is a woman whose past is just about to catch up with her - in the form of blackmail by a former lover.

Emma loves her husband Leo and their young daughter Ruby: she’d do anything for them. But almost everything she's told them about herself is a lie. And she might just have got away with it, if it weren’t for her husband’s job. Leo is an obituary writer; Emma a well-known marine biologist. When she suffers a serious illness, Leo copes by doing what he knows best – researching and writing about his wife’s life. But as he starts to unravel the truth, he discovers the woman he loves doesn’t really exist. Even her name isn’t real.

They say you can never go home again, and for Persephone Fraser, ever since she made the biggest mistake of her life a decade ago, that has felt too true. Instead of glittering summers on the lakeshore of her childhood, she spends them in a stylish apartment in the city, going out with friends, and keeping everyone a safe distance from her heart. Until she receives the call that sends her racing back to Barry’s Bay and into the orbit of Sam Florek—the man she never thought she’d have to live without.

In The Beach Club, the juicy first novel by Elin Hilderbrand, a series of personal dramas are played out during one summer at a Nantucket Beach Club. It's about the love of summer, summer love, and the special feelings we all have for that special summer place—in this case, a hotel and an island.

Lily Bishop wakes up one morning to find a good-bye note and divorce papers from her husband on the kitchen counter. Having just moved to Alabama for his job only weeks before, Lily is devastated. New to town and knowing no one, Lily finds herself in desperate need of a job and a new place to live. When Lily hears that a hair stylist is needed at small retirement community, she decides to apply.

The Bodine ranch and resort in western Montana is a family business, an idyllic spot for vacationers. A little over thirty thousand acres and home to four generations, it’s kept running by Bodine Longbow with the help of a large staff, including new hire Callen Skinner. There was another member of the family once: Bodine’s aunt, Alice, who ran off before Bodine was born.