The Dog Cove Chronicles is an uplifting contemporary family saga about human resilience and never-too-late gratitude for the gift of each new day. The O'Connors and Warners have been close friends for three generations in the small, close-knit, fictional saltwater community of Dog Cove, Florida. Book 3 features the Warner men's Soggy Cracker legacy and their roles as surrogate family to Dylan, having proven that "family" is more about bonds of friendship and people who stand by you than genetics.
Off the Deep End is Book 3 of the Dog Cove Chronicles, featuring a sweet age-gap romance between sunshiney Hardie and grumpy Merrie centered around her family's Salty Dog Brewery and her yoga studio in their small saltwater community.
She loves me. She just doesn't know it yet, but she will. - Hardie Warner
The shapely daughter of the proprietors of Salty Dog Brewery where Hardie and his father ate dinner most every night, Her Royal Feistiness had perfected rolling her eyes one moment and batting them the next.
Merrie was determined to grow her MerMaid Yoga Studio before getting into any romantic relationship. The only problem was that she had been trying to grow it for the past seven years to no avail, and she was frustrated to the point she was ready to give up and just stick with waitressing.
As much as she hated waitressing and starting to think it was the only thing she was apparently any good at, the Warners always helped her calm down by bantering and wisecracking back and forth with her nearly every night in the pub. Between Hardie's playful faux flirting and Merrie's "kiss my grits" retorts and dialing up her family's Southern Alabama accent on command, their antics were known affectionately by the regular patrons as "Dinner and a Show."
She liked Hardie, despite the man's ability to push her buttons, but whatever was hiding under his oversized clothes was probably not at all what her own dedication to health, fitness and nutrition wanted in a mate. She even joked she'd date his father first.
The old ladies' book club giggling over Love Letters to a Mermaid made Merrie curious enough to indulge a peek into, and she soon wished she were the mermaid in the sweet and swoony story. Even her bestie Bunny joined in the fun, and now she and Jake were reading it together.
When Hardie's oldest brother returns home without warning after his 30-year Navy career, Hardie has an idea how to get his father, Ed and B.B. working out together to improve all of the older men's health. On a whim, he pops into MerMaid Yoga to run the idea of a men's class by Merrie - something she realizes she never would have thought of herself.
Would the pigheaded solopreneur finally admit she really does need a partner?
With his hero home and having his back now, Hardie's favorite mantra that helped him wait patiently doing his fishing charters and various other odd jobs over the years had him still hopeful the day would come when the MerMaid herself would finally swim up to him.
Tropes and Themes: Age gap, Sunshine & Grump, Sweet & wholesome romance, Small town, Embracing change, Midlife pivots, Resilience & finding new purpose after cancer treatment (brief mention of which is based upon this author's personal experience at Stage 4 when diagnosed in 2015 - spoiler alert: I'm still here for my own HEA!).
Books in the Dog Cove Chronicles series so far:
Book 1: Go With the Flow
Book 2: Drawn Together
Book 3: Off the Deep End
Book 4: Room for Love
Book 5: Puppy Love in Paradise
