Shellwater Key Tales
A sweet contemporary romance series, Shellwater Key Tales is set in sunny Florida and follows the lives of three childhood friends who return to their hometown and become involved in reviving the old Paradise Dinner Theatre. You’ll also enjoy several Shellwater Key holiday novellas.
Finding You at Christmas
Preacher’s daughter, Janie Worthy, has spent years looking out for her father and siblings after the death of her mother. But as she watches her niece get married, Janie decides it’s time to get a life of her own. However, her plan stalls out before it can even begin…literally. On the way to her first date, her car decides to quit, leaving Janie stranded on the side of the road. A stranger on a motorcycle becomes her savior. Caleb Montgomery is gorgeous and sexy, and the short time they spend together on the side of the road might be the most romantic interlude Janie can remember. Of course, it’s all just a fantasy and soon Caleb is riding off into the night, never to be seen again. Until he shows up again where she least expects him…right in her hometown of Shellwater Key. When Caleb decides to stay in town for Christmas, Janie can’t help but wonder if she is the reason. Except that would be crazy. People don’t fall in love in one night…Right? As the holiday spirit kicks into high gear, Janie must find the courage to move beyond past guilt to embrace the future and open the best Christmas present she could ever find.
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Left Turn at Paradise
Layla McCarthy has spent most of her life trying to outrun the wild reputation of the mother who abandoned her. Raised by her grandmother – one of the first female surgeons in Florida – Layla puts all her faith in building a career, only to lose everything. Then, she learns her grandmother and great aunt have bought a run down dinner theater in her hometown of Shellwater Key, Florida, and Layla returns to make sure her relatives don’t lose their life savings. Reviving The Paradise brings an unexpected romance with Grayson Kendall, the sexy and enigmatic theatre director brought in to produce the first show. But nothing will ever be the same when Layla’s long-lost mother returns, looking to make amends. Layla doesn’t think it’s possible to forgive or forget…Until she learns the truth behind her abandonment all those years ago, including the role played by her beloved grandmother. In the end, The Paradise will become the backdrop as Layla opens her heart to love, and three generations of McCarthy women find a way through past mistakes to a new life filled with hope and redemption.
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Coming Home To Paradise
Thirty years ago, desperation drove Elizabeth McCarthy to do the unthinkable when she abandoned her infant daughter, Layla, to the care of her mother. Now, after years of trying to outrun the memories and the guilt, Beth has come home to Shellwater Key to make amends. She has survived deadbeat relationships, becoming a single mother, and cancer, but now faces the most difficult battle of her life…finding a way to connect with the legendary mother she was never able to please…and earning the forgiveness of the daughter who has every reason to hate her. She might even have a chance to find the missing piece of her heart when Layla’s father arrives in town looking for answers.
Coming Home To Paradise is a powerful story of a woman who never felt like she was enough, despite being physically beautiful. It’s the story of a woman who has been broken by life, and by illness, and who now only wants to make things right. A story about discovering that it’s never too late to find true love…or more accurately…find the true love that slipped away.
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Straight On Toward Paradise
Chef Emma Bertram doesn’t believe in the fantasy of happily ever after. As a teenager, she witnessed the destruction of her parents’ marriage when her father left for another woman. Lingering bitterness and a demanding career have kept her apart from her father’s new family for years. Then he and stepmother are suddenly killed. Returning to her childhood home of Shellwater Key, Florida, Emma suddenly finds herself with custody of her two half-sisters. Left with no choice but to stay in Shellwater Key, Emma accepts a job offer from her best friend Layla McCarthy as Head Chef at the old Paradise Dinner Theatre. Renovating the dilapidated kitchen just might kill her and nothing has prepared her to become an instant mother. But it’s not her new job or her sisters that threaten Emma’s peace of mind. No, that honor belongs to her father’s law partner, Reece Casings. The buttoned-up, so-wrong-for-her, but oh-so-sexy lawyer makes Emma’s blood boil. Or is it heart race? How can she be attracted to a man who is so wrong for her in every way? A man who clearly blames Emma for the fractured relationship with her father and who loves to point out everything she’s doing wrong? Except she cannot deny that Reece touches something in her that no man has before. Then an explosive secret boils to the surface that reveals Reece’s real connection to her family. Can Emma get past the truth? And can she ever learn to forgive her father – and herself – in order to serve up a delicious happily ever after?
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Falling For You At Christmas
Pregnant, single and alone at Christmas, Cassie Stevens decides to take a holiday vacation in Shellwater Key before her baby is born. But then her reservation is lost and she finds there literally no room left at the inn. Thankfully, single innkeeper, Jared Latham, offers to let Cassie stay with him and his young daughter. She won’t have to sleep in a manger, but being in such close proximity to the gorgeous and caring Jared might be more dangerous to her piece of mind…and heart.
But the magic of the season can change everything. Cassie is suddenly surrounded by a group of friends, who all seem have names relating to another important birth long ago. And when Christmas Eve brings an unexpected delivery, Cassie will discover that miracles are still possible even in modern times.
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Last Stop at Paradise
When Callie Dalton’s charismatic, televangelist husband falls into disgrace, Callie goes down with him. Now he’s dead, leaving Callie to face the wrath of the public alone. With nowhere else to go, she takes her two young children and escapes to a place she’s spent most of her life trying to forget. Shellwater Key holds memories of sweet childhood friendships…and the tragic death of her mother. Most everyone is horrified when Callie moves back in to the same house where her mother died, but after the scandal her options are limited. Except that same house now comes with a bonus…a handsome “pool boy” with changeable eyes, a killer smile, and shoulders wide enough to carry every one of her burdens. Noah Johnson isn’t actually a pool boy. He’s the carpenter and resident “angel” at The Paradise Dinner Theatre, now owned by her friend, Layla McCarthy. After a disastrous and humiliating job hunt, Noah helps engineer a position as House Manager at the theatre. A chance to start over is an answer to prayer, but every instinct warns that proximity to the sexy and enigmatic Noah could be the most dangerous complication to Callie’s life…and her wary heart. But when she learns the truth about Noah’s story and his former occupation, she’s ready to run again. It will take a willingness to face her tragic past and embrace the possibilities of tomorrow for Callie to find the love that will finally set her free.
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Loving You At Christmas
“Annaliese, I’m too old to play games,” Duke Evans said, though the thread of amusement remained in his voice. “I need to see you.”
Okay fine, no games on her end, either. “I’m not sure that’s wise, Mr. Evans.”
“Who said we need to be wise, Ms. Matheson?”
Arrogant, sure, but he was also charming, and smart. It was an intriguing combination. “I don’t think I’m ready. My husband died and—”
“It’s a stroll on the boardwalk, surrounded by hundreds of people who will be focused on the Christmas lights and whatever senior-citizen musical group Shellwater Key can put together.”
“Now who’s playing games?” she countered. “I don’t know that I can handle this…handle you.”
She heard the quick, indrawn breath on his end. “You really shouldn’t say things like handle me, Ms. Matheson. I might get ideas.”
Widowed stage actress, Annaliese Matheson is convinced she’ll never love again. This Christmas will become the opening act for her holiday happily ever after.
Annaliese Matheson once had the perfect life, with a successful career on Broadway and a loving husband who was her greatest champion. Then her husband died. Devastated, she left the stage behind and only returned when her best friend, Grayson Kendall, asked her to perform at The Paradise Dinner Theatre in tiny Shellwater Key, Florida.
Annaliese is convinced she’ll never love again, but when she steps in to direct to Middle School Christmas Show, nothing will ever be the same. A man unlike any she’s known awakens her buried heart, giving her a second chance at forever with the last person she would have expected. It will take a miracle for Annaliese to let someone else in and embrace happiness again…but then it is Christmas.
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Check out my other series
Covington Falls Chronicles Shellwater Key Tales Palm Cove Tales
