An escape to Martha’s Vineyard.

A job she never thought she’d need.

The summer that changed everything.

Val Leone’s planned path to partner at her New York law firm didn’t include incapacitating burnout. But after six years of sacrificing everything to meet impossible client demands lead to a panic attack so intense she faints—in front of the head partner of her department—she has no choice but to take a break. And her beloved grandmother’s house on Martha’s Vineyard is the perfect place to get her mental health back on track.

On the island Val’s latent passion for creative writing blossoms as naturally as the cerulean blue hydrangeas in Mimi’s garden, and the salt air makes breathing feel easy. Even her dating life blooms when she begins seeing Max—a flirtatious Manhattan banker spending his summer on the Vineyard.

She can’t help but consider extending her time off, so she gets a job babysitting spunky, eight-year-old Luna for island local carpenter Luke—a gorgeous single dad who is very easy to talk to. Since then it’s felt like a surreal vacation—writing every day, biking around the island with Luna, sharing confidences with Luke on his quiet back deck, building a connection with him that could catch fire if only their circumstances were different.

But that’s a fantasy incompatible with her temporary three-month medical leave. Val couldn’t possibly give up the career she’s worked her entire life to attain. New York, her steady (if all-consuming) job, a relationship with another workaholic like Max—that’s what her future realistically holds with her return-to-work date fast approaching.

So why can’t she picture it anymore?

This steamy, coming-of-thirties story serves up romance & self-reflection in equal measures—best paired with a glass of your favorite summer wine.