Island Fiction

1904: Ellen Copley is still a child when she leaves behind the sooty rail yards of Glasgow and crosses the Atlantic Ocean with a heart full of dreams. Yet within weeks of their arrival in America, her father has disappeared - leaving Ellen with resentful relatives, feeling alone and scared for her future. But then her kind Aunt Rose invites Ellen to stay with her large family in their rambling house on beautiful Amherst Island, which nestles like a jewel in the blue waters of Lake Ontario.

They’re beloved members of the Gansett Island family… But they’ve never had their own book until now! Dan Torrington and Kara Ballard take center stage for the first time ever in this prequel novel. Revisit their story from when they first appeared in FALLING FOR LOVE through HURRICANE AFTER DARK, with many new scenes, characters and backstories as we prepare to follow Dan and Kara to Bar Harbor, Maine, to deal with the most intense Ballard family drama yet.

Mae Benson was born to run the Sweet Island Inn. She cooks, she cleans, she laughs, she makes a mean pot of coffee, and she always knows which beach to recommend to her guests. But suddenly, that way of life looks very much in danger. On what was supposed to be a happy day—the day her boyfriend Dominic gets down on one knee and asks her to marry him—Mae discovers that a collective of out-of-towners with bad motives intends to usurp her business by building a competing hotel right down the street.

It wasn’t meant to be uncovered. But when her son Brent stumbles across something curious hidden in the workshop, innkeeper Mae Benson must relive events she thought she had left thirty years in the past. Her boyfriend Dominic is doing his best to help. But the arrival of a movie crew on Nantucket to film the adaptation of his latest novel has upended everything at the Sweet Island Inn.

Toni Benson’s life has been a roller coaster. Years ago, the heartbreak caused by a cheating ex-husband left her in tatters. Then she discovered the run-down fixer-upper that would become the Sweet Island Inn. For a while, things were good. But when her brother Henry’s tragic death sends her reeling all over again, she is back to square one. So she sets off on an overseas journey, in hopes of learning from scratch what kind of woman she is meant to be. She wasn’t looking for love. But it found her anyway.

Things are finally looking up for the Benson family. After a year of tough choices and big leaps of faith, it seems like love, success, and happiness are right in their grasp. But with a wedding on the horizon and a successful new restaurant growing faster than anyone ever expected, everyone certainly has their hands full. In fact, it’s starting to cause problems. Little cracks are appearing in the surface. And the historic storm brewing offshore might turn those cracks into craters.

Last summer, a storm blew the Benson family’s lives to bits. It’s been almost a year since that fateful day, since they learned that life at the beach isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. They are doing their best to pick up the pieces. Widow Mae Benson is running the Sweet Island Inn. Her daughter Eliza is learning what it means to be a mother. Sara is rediscovering her passion in the wake of heartbreak. Holly is searching for stability in her marriage. And her son Brent is—well, Brent isn’t doing so great. Despite these challenges, they might make it—if they stick together.

With their new married life underway, Virginia and Tristan have finally got it all together … or do they? When Virginia’s ex-boyfriend Jason returns, he brings an unexpected proposition and it’s a potential game changer. Meanwhile, Virginia’s little sister, Samantha, has always turned heads, but is she finally ready to settle down? With two very different men vying for her attention, she may have to do some soul searching that she has long hoped to avoid. Maybe she can just focus on everyone else’s problems instead.

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a huge B&B renovation … or if you are engaged couple Virginia and Tristan, instead of being rational, you try to juggle them all at the same time. As Virginia plans her upcoming wedding, her sister Samantha wanders into a love triangle, and her fiancé Tristan’s family drama comes back to haunt him. Will they all make it to the chapel in one piece? Follow along as a lovable cast of characters work together to try and renovate their lives by designing new beautiful elements and working to patch up the old broken parts.

Crafting gourmet donuts, hanging out with her sister, and maintaining her slightly off-kilter relationship have become the epicenter of Virginia’s life. But when she looks in the mirror, she knows better than anyone that her self-esteem is shot. So when she inherits her beloved Aunt’s house in the quaint neighboring island town of Sweetwater, she’s elated. That is, until her longtime boyfriend Jason convinces her to sell it so that they can pocket the money. The catch is, there are substantial fixes that need to be made before that can happen.

When Meg Whitaker's father decides to sell the family's lobster-fishing business to her high school nemesis, she sets out to prove she should inherit it instead. Though she's never had any interest in running the small fleet - or even getting on a boat due to her persistent seasickness - she can't stand to see Oliver Ross take over. Not when he ruined her dreams for a science scholarship and an Ivy League education 10 years ago.

Journalist Charlie Cates has always believed in facts, in what can be proved - her career depends on it. Which is why she has never truly accepted the supernatural visions that guide her to children in danger. After her work on a high-profile missing-child case brings unwanted fame, she reluctantly flees to the lush Big Island of Hawaii with her best friend, Rae. Determined to avoid her disturbing visions, Charlie begins writing what seems to be a harmless interview of a prominent volcanologist. But soon, she's haunted by dreams of a local girl who went missing six weeks earlier.

On a Viking fortress raid, the Lord of Hawkfell Island plans to take the beautiful Mirana hostage. But she has other plans for the lord.

Secrets are revealed in more ways than one. The truth always has a way of revealing itself. What happens when everyone is hiding something from the other? When relationships and bonds are tested in more ways than one. Will these relationships end before they could fully start?

Former FBI agent Rebecca West came to Shadow Island to relax and clear her head, not step into a dead sheriff’s long worn shoes. Here she is, though, Interim Sheriff over a small department grieving for their boss and friend. But not for long. Before she can resign from the unwanted position, a little girl goes missing. On vacation with her parents, the eight-year-old was last seen outside her family’s vacation rental drawing on the sidewalk with a box of chalk.

Just as Martine is settling into life on the wildlife game reserve, she is whisked away on a school trip. Her class is going on an ocean voyage to witness the Sardine Run, a spectacular natural phenomenon, off the coast of South Africa. What begins as an exciting adventure quickly turns perilous when a storm blows up and Martine and her classmates are thrown overboard into shark-infested waters. They are saved by a pod of dolphins, only to end up marooned on a deserted island.

It's the dead of winter on Gansett Island, and Riley McCarthy's mood matches the lousy weather as he and his family work to bring their new business, McCarthy's Wayfarer, back to life. He can't deny that he's been in a funk since Nikki Stokes and her twin sister, Jordan, left the island last fall without saying good-bye.

In this fourth installment of the Jesse McDermitt series, Jesse faces an antagonist unlike any he's faced before, post-traumatic stress. A friend's son, who was dishonorably discharged from the Corps, is suffering from nightmares, brought on by the incident that was the catalyst for his discharge. With Jesse's help he learns to cope with his demons and gets his discharge overturned, so that he may once again serve the country he loves.

Adam is on vacation in an island paradise, with nothing to do and plenty of time to do nothing. It's exactly what he needed: beautiful weather, beautiful girlfriend, plenty of books to read, and alcohol to drink. Most importantly, either nobody on the island knows who he is, or, nobody cares. Nothing last forever, though, and that includes the opportunity to do nothing. One day, unwelcome visitors arrive in secret, with impossible knowledge of impossible events, and then the impossible things arrive: a new species.

It's the dead of winter in the Thousand Islands, and there's nothing that reminds Suzy and Josie about that fact more than sub-zero temperatures, bone-chilling winds, and finding a dead body under the ice wearing only shorts and a tee shirt. In addition, a rare Dandie Dinmont has been found wandering around the area and Suzy and Josie, while trying to figure out what might have happened to the man under the ice, are also doing everything they can to reunite the dog with its owner.