PREORDER: Beautiful Place by the Sea

This book will be released 2/13/26. You may preorder it ahead of that date, and it will ship on its release date.

From Danielle Smyth, the best selling author of Ghost Writing (a Shelf Media 2025 Top Notable Indie Book and 2025 North American Book Award Gold Medalist) comes Beautiful Place by the Sea. It's a heartfelt coastal romance set in a small Maine vacation town—complete with a cozy bookshop, a spicy love story that starts off on entirely the wrong foot, and family secrets that refuse to stay buried. It’s about grief and healing, inherited stories, and the places that call us home even when we try to run from them.

At the center of it all is Ivy Parker, a disillusioned school librarian fresh off a devastating breakup. Seeking respite from her life outside Boston, she escapes to the seaside town that has always felt like home. Ivy takes a part-time job at the local bookshop and immediately butts heads with Oliver Clarke, the town’s guarded, infuriatingly attractive bookseller. Their early clashes give way to simmering tension—and before long, feelings neither of them expected.

When Ivy uncovers a decades-old family secret, it reveals unexpected lessons about true love and the choices people make for those they care about. These revelations force her to consider what she truly wants—and as she grows closer to Oliver, they must figure out how to make space for each other without losing themselves in the process.

Beautiful Place by the Sea is a slow-burn romance about second chances, seaside magic, and finding the kind of love that feels like coming home.