The Summer Place to Be (Lainey Springs Book 1)

At forty-four, Charlie Taylor returns to her hometown of Lainey Springs in Upstate New York looking for a reset, not a romance. Fresh off a divorce and rebuilding the curated life she once had, she plans a simple summer—helping her sister prepare for a long-awaited baby, reviving her interior design career, and hiding the fact that she’s one candy-apple red Corvette away from a midlife crisis.

Jameson Clover has spent years choosing responsibility over reinvention. Once the frontman of a chart-topping country band, he now runs his family’s bar and keeps his dreams firmly in the past. The moment their paths cross, her summer shifts onto another track.

Working together to prepare Jameson’s mother’s house for sale, banter gives way to something deeper. Both stand at a crossroads. Charlie is tempted by an opportunity that would skyrocket her career, while Jameson is forced to confront the life he gave up—and the guilt he never resolved. With old wounds resurfacing and the future uncertain, their stolen moments together may be all this summer allows.

Set in a town known as The Summer Place to Be, this emotionally grounded romance explores second chances, reinvention, and the courage it takes to discover who you are when everyone else has already decided for you.