A cottage that holds their past, a year that will determine their future, and one impossible choice between the life she built and the heart she left behind.

When Tess Bradford inherits her beloved aunt Morna’s seaside cottage in Peregrine Cove, she expects a quick sale and a swift escape from the memories of her fractured childhood—and from Noah Pierce, the boy whose heart she left behind. But Morna’s final wish becomes Tess’s impossible choice: live in the cottage for one full year with Noah as trustee, or watch it pass to him forever—now a wary stranger who quietly kept it standing through her aunt’s final days.

Fifteen years ago, their summer romance bloomed between weathered walls and salty air, only to wither when Tess was torn away. Now, as they work on the cottage in forced proximity, each creaking floorboard and faded wallpaper strip awakens memories they’ve both desperately tried to forget.

As Atlantic storms batter the coastline, the foundation Tess has built her life on is starting to shift. Meanwhile, Noah guards his heart as fiercely as he’s guarded this cottage—but cracks are beginning to show.

Step into this heartwarming small-town beach romance about second chances and finding your way back to the person who knew your heart first.

Small Town & Rural