Coastal Shadows

Photographer Melissa Reeves used to be fearless behind the lens. Then one photograph changed everything.

Now she’s hiding out at the Lockhart Lighthouse in Starlight Shores, taking safe, predictable pictures of buildings and empty streets, anything that lets her avoid seeing too much or feeling too much again.

Cliff Lockhart knows something about rebuilding a life one repair at a time. As the lighthouse’s maintenance manager, he sticks to the practical problems of broken railings, loose shingles, and storm damage. The kind of things that can actually be fixed.

Melissa’s quiet retreat from the world irritates him more than it should, perhaps because it looks a little too much like his own.

When the town’s annual festival needs a photographer, Melissa reluctantly agrees to help. Through her camera lens, she begins to see Starlight Shores differently, with the harbor glowing at sunrise, neighbors who show up when someone needs help, and the steady lighthouse beam sweeping across the water each night.

And the more she sees, the harder it becomes to pretend she’s just passing through. Especially when the gruff, infuriating man repairing her porch railing at dawn turns out to be the one person who understands exactly what she’s trying not to face.

Melissa must decide whether she’s ready to step back into the life she once loved—or remain safely hidden behind the lens.

Coastal Shadows is book three in the Starlight Shores series. It is a small-town coastal women’s fiction novel about courage, healing, and finding your place again with a tender romance woven through the story. Set in the seaside town of Starlight Shores, it’s perfect for readers who love heartfelt journeys, close-knit communities, and stories of women rediscovering themselves by the sea.