A summer wedding, a college reunion, a gorgeous Maine beach house—it's the ideal setting for bestselling author Holly Chamberlin's captivating novel about the connections that shape us, sometimes break our hearts, and forever change our lives . . . Bess Culpepper has long been sure of two things—that her group of college friends would stay close, and that love is worth the wait. At forty-two, she's found the right man, and she's celebrating her upcoming wedding by inviting her best friends to beautiful Kennebunkport. Bess has always been at the helm of these reunions, herding everyone together despite distance and outside commitments. As usual, Marta and Mike journey from their home near New York City, while Chuck and his husband, Dean, travel from Los Angeles. But Allison, half of a devoted couple since college, is making the trip from Chicago without her husband, Chris. None of the others knows the reason for their...

Against the picturesque coastal Maine setting that she evokes so well, bestselling author Holly Chamberlin creates a heartfelt story of family bonds and new beginnings . . . It came as no surprise to anyone in Yorktide when glamorous Carol Ascher fled the little Maine town for New York City. While Carol found success as an interior designer, her younger sister, Bonnie, stayed behind, embracing marriage and motherhood. She even agreed to take in Carol's teenage daughter during a tumultuous patch. Now both their girls are grown and Bonnie, recently widowed, is anticipating the day she'll retire to Ferndean House, the nineteenth-century family home on the rocky Maine coast. But forty-five years after leaving Yorktide, Carol suddenly announces that she's moving back—into Ferndean. Bonnie is indignant. She's the one who kept the homestead in order and tended to their dying mother. Now Carol expects to simply buy her out? As far as Bonnie...

Summer in Maine means breezy, sun-kissed beach days, golden evenings, and, in bestselling author Holly Chamberlin's irresistible novels, a time for self-discovery and surprising connections . . . Sometimes you sense something, deep inside, long before it's proven true. Thirty-year-old Petra Quirk has always felt as if a vital element of her life is missing. It's not until she moves back to the small town of Eliot's Corner for the summer that she learns why. Rummaging in the attic, Petra comes across a diary. The discovery prompts her mother, Elizabeth, to make a confession to her three daughters. Decades ago, she fell in love with her husband's best friend, Chris—and Petra is Chris's child . . . Elizabeth ended the affair before she learned she was pregnant, and Chris has no idea he's a father. Hugh, who Petra believed to be her dad, was a good-natured but self-centered, blustering man. He and Chris seemed to have little in common, though their...

A summer beach read with heart and substance, this poignant novel will delight fans of Elin Hildebrand, Nancy Thayer, and Shelley Noble, as four older women who are strangers to each other share a house for the summer in the picturesque Maine town of Yorktide. Sandra Pennington has lived through enough Maine winters to know how long they can be. Even in April, Yorktide is chilly and muddy, adding to Sandra's pangs of loneliness. It's been five years since her husband died, her dearest friend is in a care facility, her children are grown, and the big house is suddenly terribly empty. But Sandra has a plan: to rent out three bedrooms and set up a summer bed and breakfast of sorts. There will be challenges, of course, and Sandra's daughter is concerned. But Sandra is eager to try and build a community of like-minded, mature women for companionship and support. Soon, one by one, her chosen housemates arrive . . . Mary, recently retired, is...

Set against the backdrop of the beautiful Maine coast, Holly Chamberlin's novels are a summer staple. Now she weaves a heartfelt story of past and present summers and new beginnings, as a mother and daughter reconnect after decades apart . . . There are moments that change your entire life's direction. For Arden Bell, owner of a cherished bookstore in the seaside hamlet of Eliot's Corner, one such moment comes early on a summer day when she opens the door to Laura Huntington—the daughter she hasn't seen in thirty-seven years. Not a day has passed in which Arden hasn't thought of the baby she glimpsed only once before her wealthy, powerful parents forced her to give her up for adoption. Shy and sheltered, Arden finally mustered the courage to leave her Maine hometown of Port George, changed her name, and has barely seen her parents since. Nor has she heard from Rob, the boy she was so passionately in love with. Now Laura's arrival, and her...

From Holly Chamberlin, author of Tuscan Holiday and Summer Friends, comes a witty, insightful novel chronicling a year in one woman's quest to find love, joy--and herself. . . At twenty, singlehood is a lifestyle choice. At thirty-two, it starts to feel like an affliction. Erin Weston has a rewarding PR career, loyal friends, and a wonderful Boston condo. But in between weekend brunches, farmers' market forays, and dinners in Cambridge and the South End, Erin can't shake the sense that something's missing. The traditional ideal--husband, house, clothing-coordinated children--once seemed too obvious, and pride in her accomplishments doesn't keep the loneliness at bay. Now, ready to venture into uncharted territory, Erin is going to claim the life she thinks she wants. And in the process, she might just figure out exactly what--and who--she really needs. . .Praise for the novels of Holly Chamberlin"Nostalgia over real-life friendships lost and...

In this compelling novel set against the beautiful backdrop of Ogunquit, Maine, the bestselling author of Tuscan Holiday and One Week in December portrays an unexpected friendship, and its consequences for two very different women as time inevitably sweeps them into adulthood...Over the course of one eventful summer, nine-year-old native Mainer Delphine Crandall and Maggie Weldon, a privileged girl "from away," become best friends. Despite the social gulf between them, their bond is strengthened during vacations spent rambling around Ogunquit's beaches and quiet country lanes, and lasts throughout their college years in Boston. It seems nothing can separate them, yet after graduation, Delphine and Maggie slowly drift in different directions...With her MBA, Maggie acquires a lucrative career, and eventually marries. Delphine is drawn back home, her life steeped in family and the Maine community she loves. Twenty years pass, until one summer, Maggie announces...

From bestselling author Holly Chamberlin comes a heartfelt novel of love, marriage, and one woman's search for what comes next. . .Jess Marlowe always sensed her marriage had a limited run. So when a reckless mistake ended it, she was hardly shocked. But since her divorce became final, the surprises have been coming fast and furious. It seems no one in Jess's life is having an easy time adjusting to her newly single status. Most disturbing of all, Jess has no regrets. She knows nobody promised relationships lasted forever. But now she wonders if it's ever right to promise anyone anything. Yet despite Jess's resolve to act with her head from now on, she just may have to accept that the heart has a say of its own. . .Praise for the novels of Holly Chamberlin"Nostalgia over real-life friendships lost and regained pulls readers into the story." –USA Today on Summer Friends"It does the trick as a beach book and provides a touristy taste of...

In her college freshman year, Sophie Holmes met Eva and John, forging the kind of deep friendship that seems destined to last forever. But time proved otherwise, and Sophie married and moved to Los Angeles. Now, two decades later, newly divorced and adrift, Sophie has returned to Boston, and instinctively reaches out to the people who once defined her world.Though they've stayed in the same city, Eva and John too have grown apart. Eva is an ambitious advertising executive who favors flings over relationships. John is a dedicated lawyer wondering if he's left it too late for love and marriage. Through Sophie's reappearance, their connection crackles to life once more. Just as they did long ago, the three confide their longings and secrets--until old insecurities and new betrayal threatens to shatter their bond for good. Holly Chamberlin's thoughtful novel is a story of rediscovery and letting go, and of the ties that remind us where we've been--and where we still...

In a charming Maine seaside town, a single mother longs to create a memorable Christmas for her two daughters—and receives a chance to make her own wishes come true . . . At first glance, Nell King's cozy home in Yorktide seems a step down from the impeccably decorated Boston house she shared with her husband. But in the six years since he abruptly left to marry another woman, Nell and her almost-grown daughters have found real happiness here. Now, faced with what may be their last Christmas together, Nell feels anxious. She gave up her own ambitions when she married. With the daily obligations of motherhood coming to an end, what role is left for her to fill? Twenty-one-year-old Molly worries about sacrificing her independence the way her mother did. Should she stay in Maine with her dependable boyfriend, or move to the city and prove herself? Felicity, meanwhile, is torn between loyalty to Nell and wanting to spend time with her glamorous...

And To Think Pink Was Once My Favorite Color. . .Then the two pink lines appeared. Pink, as in positive. . .as in pregnant. . .as in pure, unadulterated panic. This wasn't supposed to happen: I'm scheduled to marry the handsome, successful, and very appropriate Ross Davis in six months. Unfortunately, while Ross may not rock my world with kitchen-table sex, his technique worked well enough to put a bun in my thirtysomething oven. . .Don't get me wrong, babies are great—in theory. But I enjoyed my life the way it was. Loved my job, my rooftop apartment, my friends; was having fun planning my wedding and gazing at my pretty three-carat diamond. I didn't need anything more. . .did I? Well, whatever I needed, here's what I currently have: A nasty case of morning sickness, a future mother-in-law obsessed with "Ross's Baby," and a custom-designed wedding dress I'll soon be too fat to wear.Now, as I burst the seams on my pencil skirts, I'm trying to take some...

In bestselling author Holly Chamberlin's poignant new novel, a mother and daughter escape to a beautiful coastal town in Maine to find healing in the wake of heartbreaking loss.The journey to Yorktide, Maine, was always a happy one for Frieda and Aaron Braithwaite and their two daughters. Frieda loves her mother's old farmhouse, and the girls have grown closer there, sharing a bedroom and spinning stories into the night. But that was before—when tragedy was something that happened to other families.Since the car crash that claimed the lives of her husband, and their younger daughter, Frieda has struggled emotionally and financially. Bella, now seventeen, is withdrawn and wary, and Frieda fears losing her too.At her mother's urging, Frieda decides to return to Yorktide with Bella for the summer. Bella gets a job in a local shop, and little by little edges her way back into the world. But it's the unexpected connections they make—with a former...

Bestselling author Holly Chamberlin welcomes readers to the sunny beaches and unspoiled beauty of Maine, in this poignant, thoughtful new novel of a mother and daughter in the midst of profound change. . .When Louise Bessire was living in Boston, she dreamed of another way of life, far from the phony smiles and small-talk of corporate dinners. Now she's got what she wanted—though not exactly in the way she hoped. Blindsided by her husband's affair, Louise has used her divorce settlement to buy Blueberry Bay, a picturesque bed and breakfast in Ogunquit. And with a celebrity wedding taking place on the premises this summer, business is looking up.While Louise deals with paparazzi and wedding planners, her sixteen-year-old daughter, Isobel, is falling hard for local boy Jeff Otten. Being singled out by Jeff—nineteen, handsome, and from a wealthy family—almost makes up for her father's increasing neglect. Yet even in the glow of golden beach days there are...

Set in a picturesque Maine beach town, bestselling author Holly Chamberlin's heartwarming and insightful novel delves into the choices and changes faced by two families over the course of one eventful summer. . .Everyone in Yorktide, Maine, knows sixteen-year-old Sarah Bauer. She's a good student and a dutiful daughter, as well as a beloved best friend to Cordelia Kane. So it's a surprise to all when sensible Sarah reveals that she is pregnant.Though shocked, Sarah's family is supportive. But while Sarah reconciles herself to a new and different future, the consequences ripple in all directions. Her father—a proud, old-time Mainer—tries to find more work to defray expenses. Her younger sister grapples with a secret she can't share. Cordelia feels abandoned, and Cordelia's mother faces the repercussions of a long-ago decision. As Sarah's mother, Cindy, frets about how she'll juggle childcare with her job at the local quilting store, she seizes on an idea: to...