Joanne DeMaio

After years of pursuing a denim design career, Maris Carrington never imagined trading her Chicago studio for a New England shingled cottage. But when her life sketch takes an unexpected shape - smudged with a pastel seaside setting, rendered with pencil strokes of her father's estate shading family secrets, and inked with silhouettes of old friends reconnecting on a weathered boardwalk - nothing is what is seems as illusion blends with reality"--Cover...

It's been a long, hot summer in Stony Point. As temperatures rise on the Connecticut coast, so do the secrets. Everyone's got one. Jason and Maris, Celia and lobsterman Shane, the beach commissioner, and especially innkeeper Elsa. With the passing summer days, each secret--sad, shocking, and sweet--unfurls like a breaking wave.

"Cardinal Cabin is an enchanting tale about finding love where you least expect it. So come on inside. A cozy fire crackles, lights twinkle on the evergreen tree, snowflakes tap at the windowpanes, and little redbirds bring cheer this time of year."--from publisher's description.

"Every cottage tells a story. It's a saying Jason Barlow returns to as an architect designing New England beach homes. The latest cottage story he hopes to tell rises from the Stony Point sand: the last-standing cottage on the beach. It's the sole survivor--something Jason can relate to--as surrounding cottages washed out to sea in long-ago hurricanes. The owners aren't budging, though, keeping Jason's proposed renovation at bay. But with some help...

Hidden by dune grass on the edge of the Barlows' craggy bluff is a stairway to the sea. Depending on the tides, it leads to a tiny secluded beach. But for years, the stairway's been neglected and nearly forgotten. Until now. Until a sudden offer to restore it brings a sea change, both to the stairway itself--and to the man rebuilding it. Conversations. Revelations. Secrets. Desires. All are intimately told in this sacred spot where sea and sky meet....

"Behind every cottage door is a liar. Look past the tended lawns and screened windows open to the sea breeze and dusky porch lights shining on waning summer nights. And listen closely. Are those whispers of swaying marsh grasses? Or hushed secrets floating in the salt air? Walking the sandy roads, it's hard to tell. There. There's the imposing Barlow cottage on the bluff. Elsa's shingled inn by the sea. The Fenwicks' last-standing cottage on the sand....

"Winding to the sea is a nearly hidden dirt road. Acres of wooded forest engulf it. Reaching skyward alongside that road are towering trees, their branches gloved in icy white. In the middle of winter, few turn onto this tucked-away Connecticut road. Truthfully, most wouldn't know it leads to a secluded beach community. Mack Martinelli sure does, though. He fell even more in love with his wife Avery there. As Mack steers his pickup down the frost-heaved...

For Mack and Avery Martinelli, the summer is their oyster. They can spend all day on the beach, or not. Cruise the dusty beach roads, or never leave their deck overlooking Long Island Sound. Fill their itinerary with excursions on the Connecticut shore, or while away the hours in a shingled cottage. Every decision this week is theirs to make. Until it's not. Until life as they know it changes -- and suddenly the Martinellis have to face only each...

"In the dark of a summer night, everything can change. A moment can tip on edge. The salt air might stir. Or still. The waves might roll in. Or recede. A heart might fill. Or break. In two different cottages, the night is coming undone. As the sun sinks into the sea, as evening presses in, the summer calm is broken. Until an unexpected visitor arrives." --back cover.

"Salt air drifts in through the windows. Swaying marsh grasses whisper. Seagulls cry overhead. Off the docks, rowboats are anchored in a calm inlet. Beyond, shingled cottages look silver beneath rays of sunlight. Seafood shacks are strung with fishing net and lobster buoys. You're driving on SHORE ROAD. And every turn off this dusty beach road gets you to the sea. Tucked-away Connecticut beaches are aplenty here, but you could almost miss one. Just...