SAND, SEA, & SECOND CHANCES

Kate Fiore has just made it to Gull Island, North Carolina, her new home for the next few months. Her best friend CeCe Greenwood is beginning her maternity leave, and Kate will be filling in for her at the Gull Island Aquarium. Aquatic life may not be Kate’s forte, but she’s good at keeping things running smoothly and organizing events, which will come in handy when she has to help coordinate the donor dinner during the upcoming Founders Day celebration. This time away, keeping busy at the aquarium, is exactly what Kate needs—a reset after getting divorced and losing her job (adding insult to injury, she learns her ex has already impregnated his new girlfriend). But on her first day there, she manages to get locked out of her little bungalow and embarrasses herself in front of Luke McAllister, a very handsome (but very snarky) local. Gull Island isn’t especially big, and Kate soon realizes just how small it really is as she seems to run into the gruff Luke everywhere she goes. As time goes on, she realizes Luke has a kinder heart and a sweeter personality than their first few meetings led her to believe. But Kate is only supposed to be here for the summer…. In this sweet romance, the first in a series, the author creates a beautiful small-town setting in Gull Island and the surrounding areas (“A gentle breeze brushed against her cheek, carrying the briny perfume of the ocean and the scent of jasmine from a nearby garden”), with plenty of colorful side characters. Kate and Luke’s romance is definitely the highlight of the novel, with their squabbles and their “Turtle Team” (they comb the beach looking for turtle nests to protect) rules that they amend as they go. This is a romantic and chaste narrative (with nothing steamy happening on the page), sure to please anyone looking for a sweet and breezy beach read.

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