Welcome back to Beachwood Bay. The gossip travels fast, the coffee's stronger than the Wi-Fi, and some chapters were never meant to stay closed.
Ava Jensen has a five-year plan, a color-coded calendar, and zero time for chaos. But when her mother retires without warning and hands her the keys to their family's crumbling bookshop, Ava's perfect life goes up in smoke.
Worse? The shop next door is now a competing bookstore. Run by John Winston.
The same John Winston who made her believe in spontaneity the summer she was twenty. Who crashed his car with her in the passenger seat, then let his family's money make it all disappear. The same John Winston she swore she'd never forgive.
He's different now—quieter, steadier, annoyingly sincere. He quotes Steinbeck while shelving paperbacks. His ridiculous dog keeps escaping to woo the judgmental goat from Namaste & Nibble. And he wants to talk about what happened.
Ava doesn't do second chances. She doesn't do small towns. And she definitely doesn't fall for the one person who proved she was right to keep her heart on a schedule.
But Beachwood Bay has never cared much for plans.
Tropes you'll love: Second chance romance • Enemies to lovers • Small town homecoming • Rival bookshops • Slow burn • Forced proximity • He fell first (and never got up)
Genre: General Fiction
Ava Jensen has a five-year plan, a color-coded calendar, and zero time for chaos. But when her mother retires without warning and hands her the keys to their family's crumbling bookshop, Ava's perfect life goes up in smoke.
Worse? The shop next door is now a competing bookstore. Run by John Winston.
The same John Winston who made her believe in spontaneity the summer she was twenty. Who crashed his car with her in the passenger seat, then let his family's money make it all disappear. The same John Winston she swore she'd never forgive.
He's different now—quieter, steadier, annoyingly sincere. He quotes Steinbeck while shelving paperbacks. His ridiculous dog keeps escaping to woo the judgmental goat from Namaste & Nibble. And he wants to talk about what happened.
Ava doesn't do second chances. She doesn't do small towns. And she definitely doesn't fall for the one person who proved she was right to keep her heart on a schedule.
But Beachwood Bay has never cared much for plans.
Tropes you'll love: Second chance romance • Enemies to lovers • Small town homecoming • Rival bookshops • Slow burn • Forced proximity • He fell first (and never got up)
Genre: General Fiction