Linda Holmes

In a sleepy seaside town in Maine, recently widowed Eveleth “Evvie” Drake rarely leaves her large, painfully empty house nearly a year after her husband’s death in a car crash. Everyone in town, even her best friend, Andy, thinks grief keeps her locked inside, and Evvie doesn’t correct them. Meanwhile, in New York City, Dean Tenney, former Major League pitcher and Andy’s childhood best friend, is wrestling with what miserable athletes living out their worst nightmares call the “yips”: he can’t throw straight anymore, and, even worse, he can’t figure out why. As the media storm heats up, an invitation from Andy to stay in Maine seems like the perfect chance to hit the reset button on Dean’s future. When he moves into an apartment at the back of Evvie’s house, the two make a deal: Dean won’t ask about Evvie’s late husband, and Evvie won’t ask about Dean’s baseball career. Rules, though, have a funny way of being broken—and what starts as an unexpected friendship soon turns into something more. To move forward, Evvie and Dean will have to reckon with their pasts—the friendships they’ve damaged, the secrets they’ve kept—but in life, as in baseball, there’s always a chance—up until the last out.

Smarting from her recently cancelled wedding and about to turn forty, Laurie Sassalyn returns to her Maine hometown of Calcasset to handle the estate of her great-aunt Dot, a spirited adventurer who lived to be ninety. Along with boxes of Polaroids and pottery, a mysterious wooden duck shows up at the bottom of a cedar chest. Laurie's curiosity is piqued, especially after she finds a love letter to the never-married Dot that ends with the line, "And anyway, if you're ever desperate, there are always ducks, darling." Laurie is told that the duck has no financial value. But after it disappears under suspicious circumstances, she feels compelled to figure out why anyone would steal a wooden duck--and why Dot kept it hidden away in the first place. Suddenly Laurie finds herself swept up in a righteous caper that has her negotiating with antiques dealers and con artists, going on after-hours dates at the local library, and reconnecting with her oldest friend and first love. Desperate to uncover her great-aunt's secrets, Laurie must reckon with her past, her future, and ultimately embrace her own vision of flying solo. A woman returns to her small Maine hometown, uncovering family secrets that take her on a journey of self-discovery and new love, in this warm and charming novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Evvie Drake Starts Over.

A podcast producer agrees to host a new series about modern dating—but will the show jeopardize her chance at finding real love? From the New York Times bestselling author of Evvie Drake Starts Over and Flying Solo . Longtime podcast producer Cecily Foster has always operated behind the scenes. For years, she’s worked toward hosting her own show, putting everything, including her love life, on the backburner. So when her boss finally offers her the chance, she’s over the moon. But there’s a catch. Actually, two 1) The show will be about Cecily’s dating life  2) Cecily will be mentored by renowned dating coach/life coach/influencer Eliza Cassidy. Cecily would rather do anything else than put her singledom on display, especially since the last time she mixed work with romance the outcome was catastrophic. But when Cecily’s boss tells her that doing the show is the only way to protect her mentee's job, she realizes she has no other choice. To make matters even more complicated, Cecily finds herself unable to stop thinking about Will, a photographer she serendipitously met while chasing a runaway dog down a busy street. Even though there are sparks between the two, Eliza forbids Cecily from dating Will, whom she believes is no better than Cecily's disappointing exes. As Cecily struggles to balance her real romantic life and the one Eliza wants to create for her, she finds herself at a crossroads. Will she fall back into old patterns, or is this her chance to finally find love that lasts?