Hot Mess Summer

Twice-divorced, perpetually stressed romance writer Nicole is ready for a reset. On impulse she buys a cottage in a small New England fishing village, determined to focus on her writing, raise her kid, and steer well clear of any new romantic entanglements.

The plan is sound, and the town's severe shortage of eligible single men should make it easy to keep. Then she meets Declan, a devastatingly charming fish peddler and ex-military single dad who cheerfully describes himself as a hot mess.

He becomes her trusted friend, her partner in adventure, and a growing complication to every rule she has set for herself. Set in a cozy coastal community, this funny, sexy standalone romantic comedy follows a woman who writes happily-ever-afters for a living while insisting she is done chasing one of her own.

As friendship with Declan deepens into something harder to dismiss, Nicole has to reckon with the possibility that real love rarely arrives neat and tidy. Warm, breezy, and full of banter, it makes the case that the messiest summer of your life might also be the one that finally gets everything right.