Showing results by author "Joanne DeMaio" in All Categories

The whisper of dune grasses. The faint cry of gulls. The hiss of waves. In the New England beach town of Stony Point, there's an undeniable hush. Maybe it's because the summer people have left and many of the coastal cottages are shuttered for the season. Or maybe it's just because one tenacious lobsterman's stay is coming to a close. Regardless, there's a stillness in the salt air. But don't be fooled—all is not at ease.

Jane March's greeting cards have lost their jingle. While worried about her job at New England's Cobblestone Cards, she stumbles upon a forgotten box of her mother's nostalgic paintings. They depict small-town Addison's covered bridge and red barns and picket-fenced colonials. If only Jane's designs could capture the same heart. When her mother shows her how with a Christmas to-do list of memories in the making, Jane gets checking.

Salt air drifts in through the windows. Swaying marsh grasses whisper. Seagulls cry overhead. Off the docks, rowboats are anchored in a calm inlet. Beyond, shingled cottages look silver beneath rays of sunlight. Seafood shacks are strung with fishing net and lobster buoys. You're driving on Shore Road.

Jason and Maris. To the residents of Stony Point, they're simply known as the Barlows. Their home is a shingled New England cottage on the bluff, where salt air breezes stir and gulls cry and spirits roam. But like wisps of sea fog, darkness has touched upon their lives this summer. Will light and love return to their old weathered cottage by the sea?

In a shocking twist, a day goes so wrong and alters the lives of several beach friends in its wake. All that's left is to pick up the pieces. And each individual does in ways unexpected. One sheds tears. Some offer a shoulder, an embrace. One tries to help, only to hit a brick wall. One finds difficult acceptance. Still one harbors deep, stinging regret. Where do they go from here?

In the dark of a summer night, everything can change. A moment can tip on edge. The salt air might stir. Or still. The waves might roll in. Or recede. A heart might fill. Or break. In two different cottages, the night is coming undone. As the sun sinks into the sea, as evening presses in, the summer calm is broken. Until an unexpected visitor arrives.

Shane Bradford has to make a decision. It won't be easy since there are plenty of consequences either way. He has to gauge the risk, the reward. He also has to act fast—second nature to him as a New England lobsterman. The clock is ticking. Every minute counts. So as the golden beach grasses sway, as Long Island Sound's lazy waves roll in, as the gulls call, as the tides turn, he decides. But at what cost?

Reluctant to leave her cherished New England hometown after her sister's winter wedding, former journalist Vera Sterling makes a sudden decision. She takes what's left of her severance pay and invests it in real estate ... in one particular drafty colonial home and old timber barn set upon the pretty banks of Addison Cove. In that rough-hewn barn, she discovers a secret treasure left behind by the previous owner, the proprietor of the long-forgotten Christmas Barn gift shop. While restoring her run-down, wood-sided home--its creaking floors, broken banister, and neglected widow's walk--that secret slowly unfolds like a bit of snowflake wonder, crystallizing hopes and dreams for many in this small Connecticut town.

Blue skies and smooth seas return to the coastal community of Stony Point. Until a new arrival in this little New England beach town sets forth a competition like no other. As the temperature rises beneath the summer sun, so do the antics and good-natured fun.

Mistakes. Everyone in the New England beach town of Stony Point has made one. Some mistakes are as big as the blue depths of Long Island Sound. Others, as small as a speck of sand. Some mistakes make their presence known, like the call of the gulls feeding on the bluff. Then there are the mistakes that whisper like the slightly swaying marsh grasses. More than anyone, Jason Barlow is ready to admit his mistake. But is it too late?

Behind every cottage door is a liar. Look past the tended lawns and screened windows open to the sea breeze and dusky porch lights shining on waning summer nights. And listen closely. Are those whispers of swaying marsh grasses? Or hushed secrets floating in the salt air? Walking the sandy roads, it's hard to tell. There. There's the imposing Barlow cottage on the bluff. Elsa's shingled inn by the sea. The Fenwicks' last-standing cottage on the sand. Cliff's ramshackle beach trailer. Celia's tucked-away guest cottage.

After years of pursuing a denim design career, Maris Carrington never imagined trading her Chicago studio for a New England shingled cottage. But a forgotten home movie tucked inside a dusty attic box leads to an unexpected summer ... One of uncovering family secrets while settling her father's estate, one of inheriting a forlorn German shepherd, one of reconnecting with old friends on a weathered boardwalk, beneath starlit skies on a beach nestled in a crook of the Connecticut coast.

Lindsey Haynes' father once gave her a snow globe with the note: "Unsure where to go? Give a little shake...and your heart will always know." On a whim, those words lead her to the quaint New England town of Addison. It's a place straight out of a storybook with its twinkling town green, decorated Main Street, and secluded lakeside cabin community. But an encounter with a dejected doctor named Greg Davis turns Lindsey's days upside down, much like a snow globe in motion. With a little nudge from endearing townsfolk, and a few chance meetings of their own, a magical flurry of emotions suddenly swirls around them.

Every summer has a story. That couldn't be more true for Jason and Maris Barlow, the Bradford brothers, soon-to-be innkeepers Elsa and Celia, and the rest of The Seaside Saga cast. But this particular summer is leaving its mark on the New England beach town of Stony Point. As lone lobsterman Shane settles in for another week at his rented bungalow by the sea, emotional tides turn. Relationships come unmoored. Secret love affairs surface. Family bonds are tested.

In the New England beach town of Stony Point, everyone is waiting for something. Or someone. They're waiting for an answer. Waiting for something to believe in. Waiting for the right time. Waiting for a friend. Some are waiting to come home. Others are waiting to make a move. Then, there's that shabby coastal table at twilight, awaiting a secret dinner guest. And The Seaside Saga continues.

It was going to be exquisite: a rambling, shingled New England cottage converted into a grand beach inn. Nestled among hydrangeas and swaying dune grasses, this seaside haven would welcome guests on the Connecticut shore. Except the little beach town of Stony Point is no longer feeling like a haven to its residents. Residents including a brooding Jason Barlow, the esteemed architect in charge of the inn's renovation--until a stubborn, grief-induced For Sale sign puts an end to that.

It's been a long, hot summer in Stony Point. As temperatures rise on the Connecticut coast, so do the secrets. Everyone's got one. Jason and Maris, Celia and lobsterman Shane, the beach commissioner, and especially innkeeper Elsa. With the passing summer days, each secret - sad, shocking, and sweet - unfurls like a breaking wave.

Celia Gray finds herself house-sitting a silver-shingled cottage at Stony Point. She arrives with her guitar, a few staging jobs ... and a bit of summertime sadness. That is, until an unforgettable group of beach friends draws her in like a breath of salt air. Sal DeLuca heard the words in a dream: Take me to the sea. So after a decade of demanding work, he takes his first vacation in years.

Everything was in place for the perfect beachside gathering. Lace-wrapped jars hung from white chairs on the sand. Paper lanterns and tiki torches glimmered in the twilight evening. A rowboat draped with roses and vines waited in the wings. Love floated on the salt air. Until the arrival of a mysterious guest named Shane Bradford, a lobsterman with a tangled past in this little New England beach town. Like a sudden sea breeze, the special evening quickly turns. And the residents of Stony Point must tread the darker water Shane brings to their Night Beach.

Dune grasses sway atop the Barlows' craggy bluff. Hidden past a narrow path, there is a rickety stairway going down, down, down to the sea. Even in its neglect, the stairway is beautiful, with its sweeping views of Long Island Sound. Depending on the tides, those stairs lead to a tiny secluded beach. But for years, the stairs have been nearly forgotten. Until now.