Shore Lights by Barbara Bretton

From Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Review
In more than 40 books over a 20-year career, Barbara Bretton has captured hearts with her appealing blend of poignant realism and romantic dreams, and Shore Lights continues this winning tradition. As a child, Maddy Bainbridge blamed her mom for her parents' divorce. Once grown, Maddy left their small town on the Jersey Shore to make a new home for herself -- far, far away. Now, jobless after the crash of her dot-com career in Seattle and wounded by a recent breakup, Maddy is desperate to offer her young daughter stability and family -- even if it means returning home to work at her mother's upscale bed-and-breakfast. When Maddy meets single dad Aidan O'Malley in a bidding war over an antique samovar on an online auction site, the attraction is immediate. Unfortunately, while Maddy needs this "enchanted lamp" to brighten her daughter's Christmas, Aidan's teenage daughter wants it to replace something her ailing great grandmother treasured long ago. The ensuing dispute results in a delightfully romantic homecoming. Sue Stone

From the Publisher

While Maddy Bainbridge didn't want to go back home to the Jersey shore, her mother's invitation came at a time when Maddy had few choices. But her effort to give her own little girl her heart's desire may just give Maddy a chance of finding her own...

Publishers Weekly

Bretton's newest contemporary romance (after A Soft Place to Fall) is an engrossing tale of hope, promise, heartache and misplaced dreams. Maddy Bainbridge and her headstrong mother, Rose, have never gotten along, but when Maddy's Seattle-based dot-com crashes and her husband divorces her, she has no choice but to return home to Paradise Point, N.J., with her four-year-old daughter Hannah. It's three weeks before Christmas, and Maddy is determined to make a go of it with her mom while attempting to put a little happiness back in her daughter's life by giving her an Aladdin-style `magic lamp' (actually a teapot) she's found on the Internet. The only problem is that someone is aggressively trying to outbid her. Her adversary, she soon learns, is ex-firefighter Aidan O'Malley, owner of O'Malley's Bar and Grill across town. He's trying to win the teapot for his daughter, Kelly, who believes it to be the one that graced the walls of O'Malley's 50 years earlier. When Maddy scores the winning bid, the sale becomes the catalyst that brings generations of families together, suggesting the teapot may have magic powers after all. While this Christmas tale may seem out of place among the summer season's beach offerings, its uplifting message and smooth storytelling make it a pleasant read any time of year. (May 6) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Product Details

• Table of Contents
• Interviews & Essays

Table of Contents

Interviews & Essays

Barbara Bretton: To me, the most romantic scene in Shore Lights is the kiss between Aidan and Maddy out on the beach after a snowstorm. There are none of the usual trappings of romance. There's just the two of them, with their hearts on their sleeves and a sense that they might have a future together. Roses and chocolates and candlelight are all on the master list of things romantic. But anyone can buy you those things. Only a man who knows and loves you would instead fill the bird feeder without being asked, or bring you daisies because he knows they're your favorite.

Heart to Heart: Both Maddy and Aidan have been unlucky in life and love. What inspired this story of reaching for a second chance at "happily ever after"?

BB: It took my own grandfather five times to find the perfect wife, so I come by my belief in second (and third and fourth and fifth) chances naturally. I believe that when people have experienced more of life's ups and downs, they learn to recognize the real thing when it finally comes along, and they know it's worth fighting to hold onto. Life isn't always easy, or fair. I love writing about strong men and women who, when faced with the real life obstacles we've all encountered, find the courage to triumph over them. I love writing about the everyday hero hidden inside each one of us.

HtoH: What made you decide to create Maddy's difficult relationship with her mother?

BB: The mother-daughter relationship is probably the most complex of all human relationships, and it grows more complicated with time. It's part love affair, part competition, as natural as breathing and every bit as vital. I'm not sure any of us ever manages to get it quite right. The underlying theme of Shore Lights is the impact that family secrets have on relationships. One of the many things I learned after my parents died was how little I really knew about them. As a child you're positive you've heard every story a hundred times -- but the truth is, your parents' lives were probably richer and more filled with secrets than you can imagine.

HtoH: There was such a wonderful cast of characters in Shore Lights. Do you plan to write more stories that connect to this one?

BB: Funny you should ask! I'll be starting work soon on a book featuring Aidan's sister-in-law, Claire, along with other characters from Shore Lights. I love hearing from readers and eventually I answer each letter personally. You can contact me through my web site, www.barbarabretton.com; through email at barbara@barbarabretton.com, or by mail at Barbara Bretton, PO Box 5655, Hillsborough NJ 08844.