Where the Waves Break

A runaway bride in all but name. A seaside town that wears kindness like armor. One broken beginning that becomes a life.

Hazel Morrison thought she was starting fresh. Instead, her husband left her in a Cracker Barrel parking lot with a suitcase, two hundred dollars, and a future that vanished before the biscuits cooled. What she planned next was survival.

What she found instead was Magnolia Beach.

A town of bright-painted porches, cinnamon-roll mornings, and strangers who step in before you're brave enough to ask. People like Margaret, who drives her toward the ocean instead of the past. Rose and Walt, who hand her a job, a studio apartment above the Sip & Shop, and the kind of welcome she hasn't felt in years. And a scruffy stray dog named Chance, who chooses her before she remembers how to choose herself.

When Hazel finally lets the dust settle, she faces the truth she's been outrunning. You can rebuild a life from the rubble, but only if you're willing to stand in the sunshine long enough to see what grows.

Hazel expects to get by.

She doesn't expect the town to gather around her—really gather—in the quiet, steadfast ways she's never known.

She doesn't expect the slow rhythms of coastal life to stitch up her wounds.

And she definitely doesn't expect Magnolia Beach to feel less like an escape… and more like home.

✓ small-town found family, ✓ beachcore comfort vibes, ✓ cozy coastal reset, ✓ women supporting women, ✓ stray-dog companionship, ✓ emotional healing arc, ✓ clean, heartwarming, hopeful

WHERE THE WAVES BREAK is a clean women's fiction standalone filled with coastal vibes, uplifting friendships, and the gentle courage of beginning again. Third-person POV.

Perfect for fans of Pamela Kelley, Hallmark coastal stories, and feel-good beach reads that soothe the heart.