The Sisters of Stella Mare
Dorie, Evie, Rett and Helen…. the Madison sisters of Stella Mare, a tiny Maritime village, doing life the best they can, with kids, dogs, boyfriends and husbands, fathers and grandmothers, the full catastrophe. It’s real life, but better.
You can always go home.
Meet the Madison girls – four sisters – who grew up in the tiny Canadian fishing village of Stella Mare. Together with their father James, incorrigible aunt Corinne, the ever-present memory of their mother, Agnes, and a host of dogs, neighbours, friends and supporting characters, they navigate the often-treacherous waters of everyday life.
Humour helps any circumstance, and time, distance, and decent coffee can turn difficulties into learning experiences despite ourselves. In Stella Mare, the coffee is at the Sunshine Diner, and the good humour is always present.
Book 1
Dorie needs a future, Chad needs a woman, and a whole whack of dogs need a home. Enemies to lovers in a seaside village, under the watchful eye of her older sisters…what could possibly go wrong?
Book 2
Newly single, Evie returns home with a broken heart, broken dreams, and no plan except caring for her ailing father. The new art gallery in town intrigues her, including a charming American who gets oddly excited about dusty old handmade objects.
Stephen senses a story behind Evie’s sad brown eyes, and he’d like to learn what it is. Because he believes life is result of choices, and there’s a reason they’ve met. Their budding relationship is rocky, but piece by piece, Evie and Stephen dust off old dreams in hopes of creating a new future. All their own.
Emelie and Liam have a happy life with their five-year-old son Ben, until a car accident changes everything, sending Emelie into a spiral of declining mental health. Struggling with a deep desire for another baby, pretending she is fine, Emelie desperately tries to hold things together until her search for a baby makes her do the unthinkable.
Liam is determined to keep things “normal.” He barely notices his own struggle, until he makes a decision that shatters Emelie’s newly reordered world and separates their family.
Out of sync, each must grapple with the meaning of family and their deepest desires.
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Finding a family seemed impossible. But she had to try.
Mackie, seeking her unknown father, heads to the strange new world of the Canadian Maritimes. She finds fiddle music, traditional food, kitchen parties, fishing boats, rocky headlands, and the handsome English teacher without even trying. Her father was easy to find, too, but now she’s not sure she wants him, and worse, not sure he wants her. And there are complications, like a sister she didn’t expect, nephews, a whole rich life that was happening without her. Should she disrupt everyone’s world or keep her secret?
Before the consequences of her decision unfold, a tragic fire changes everything, and once again Mackie is facing aloneness. What is a family, really, and can a person find or make a new one when the old one has gone?
Enjoy this small-town tale of a woman’s growth through adversity, the connection of family and friends over time and distance, and the sweetness of new love.
The Canadian Maritimes…
Ocean, fishing, great food and music, good people with strong personalities…this is where Annie’s stories are set. There’s more of that local flavour in the newsletter for her readers.
You can also email annie at annie@anniemballard.com
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Let your local librarian know that you want access to my books. Libraries can purchase my books in hard copies through Ingram Spark. Even though I am independently published, my books are available through Ingram’s global distribution network, Lightning Source, and in ebook form on Overdrive.
I make my books available through Overdrive to library systems in the US and Canada. You can go to the Overdrive website to see if your library uses it. Here is where to check:
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