Acclaim for New York Times bestselling author Susan Wiggs
âthis is a beautiful bookâ
âBookbag on Just Breathe
â⦠Unpredictable and refreshing, this is irresistibly goodâ
âCloser Hot Pick Book on Just Breathe
â⦠Truly uplifting â¦â
âNow Book of the Week
âA human and multi-layered story
exploring duty to both country and familyâ âNora Roberts on The Ocean Between Us
âSusan Wiggs paints the details
of human relationships with the finesse of a master.â âJodi Picoult
âThe perfect beach readâ
âDebbie Macomber on Summer by the Sea
Also bySusan Wiggs
The Lakeshore Chronicles SUMMER AT WILLOW LAKE THE WINTER LODGE DOCKSIDE SNOWFALL AT WILLOW LAKE FIRESIDE LAKESHORE CHRISTMAS
The Tudor Rose Trilogy AT THE KINGâS COMMAND THE MAIDENâS HAND AT THE QUEENâS SUMMONS
Contemporary HOME BEFORE DARK THE OCEAN BETWEEN US SUMMER BY THE SEA TABLE FOR FIVE LAKESIDE COTTAGE JUST BREATHE
All available in eBook
For boat commutes to our writersâ group in the
summer, for treacherous drives through frozen winter nights, for sticking together through spring floods and autumn rains, for my fellow writer and friend for all seasonsâ For Sheila! For Joy!
Many thanks to the real innkeeper, Wendy Higgins of The Ocean Lodge in Cannon Beach, Oregon. Deepest appreciation to fellow writers Elsa Watson, Suzanne Selfors, Sheila Rabe and Anjali Banerjee; also to Kysteen Seelen, Susan Plunkett, Rose Marie Harris, Lois Faye Dyer and Kate Breslin for their humour, wisdom and patience in reading early drafts.
Special thanks to Meg Ruley and Annelise Robey of the Jane Rotrosen Agency, and to my terrific editor, Margaret OâNeill Marbury.
âA lake is the landscapeâs most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earthâs eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.â
âHenry David Thoreau
Walden, âThe Pondsâ
âYou are part travel guide, social director, advertising and marketing specialist, housekeeper, chef, accountant, public relations specialist, buildings and groundskeeper, and local historian all rolled into one. If ⦠you are willing to work hard, are dedicated to creating comfortable accommodations for visitors, have a love of your area and a desire to share that passion with others, then you may want to consider owning and operating a bed and breakfast inn.â
âThe Bed and Breakfast Association of Alaska
After Shane Gilmore kissed her, Nina Romano kept her eyes shut. All right, she thought, so he wasnât the worldâs best kisser. Not every man was born a great kisser. Some had to be trained. Surely, Shane Gilmore was trainable.
She opened her eyes and smiled up at him. He certainly looked like a good kisser, with nicely sculpted lips and a strong jaw, broad shoulders and thick black hair. Maybe he was just having an off day.
âIâve been waiting a long time to do that,â he said. âYour term in office couldnât end soon enough for me.â
He didnât mean it as a dig. Did he? The fact that her term as mayor of Avalon, New York, had concluded in scandal still stung; maybe she was just being paranoid. She decided to laugh it off. âAll right, now you sound like one of my political enemies.â
âMy reasons are romantic,â he insisted. âI was waiting for the right time. It wouldnât have looked right for us to be together when you were mayor, not with me being president of the only bank in town.â
You look like such a hunk, she thought. Donât act like a dork. And yes, she was being paranoid about the scandal, which was odd, because given her background, Nina was no stranger to scandal. As a young single mother, sheâd held her head up and gone to work for the town of Avalon, eventually serving as deputy mayor. The salary was almost nonexistent, and hadnât improved much when Mayor McKittrick fell ill and she became the de facto mayor, the youngest and lowest-paid in the state, as far as she knew. Sheâd inherited a city-finance nightmare. The town was on the verge of bankruptcy. Sheâd cut spending, which included her own salary, to the bone and eventually found the source of the leakâa corrupt city administrator.
Enough, she thought. This was a new chapter of her life in so many ways. Sheâd just returned from three weeks away. She and Shane were on their first date, and quibbling with a first date was a no-no. And aside from that kissâawkward and way too ⦠slobberyâthings were going all right. They had shared a Sunday afternoon picnic at Blanchard Park, on the shores of Willow Lake, the townâs best asset. Afterward they had taken a leisurely stroll along the lakeshore, and that was where Shane made his move. Heâd stopped right in the middle of the path, cast a furtive glance left and right and then pressed his mouth in full lockdown mode upon hers.
Ew.
Snap out of it, Nina scolded herself. This was supposed to be a new beginning for her. While she was raising her daughter, sheâd never had the time or energy to date. Now that she was making her belated entry into the world of dating, she really shouldnât ruin it by being hypercritical. She had ruined more first dates by being hypercritical than ⦠come to think of it, sheâd ruined all of them. First dates were the only kind Nina Romano ever had, because there was never a second. Except that one, years ago. The one that had resulted in her getting pregnant at the age of fifteen. After that, sheâd concluded that second dates were bad luck.