Coastaltown Stories

Nineteen-year-old Lenora Cullen is following a strict plan. Attend classes during the day and work part-time to save enough for moving out of her uncle's house. Lately, she has begun night shifts at Ocean Brew, a secluded coastal coffee shop, for better pay. Customers come and go except for one. Brian Dormer, the quiet boy who sits near the ocean view window with his laptop and papers. It's hard not to notice a regular who orders the same thing and leaves at closing hours. These two interacted as a normal barista and customer until one fateful night. Lenora did not expect her life to take a drastic turn when she accidentally spilled coffee on him. That one unpredictable moment is about to change the lives of these two strangers, forming a life-changing friendship. - #ONC2026 PROMPT 19: When you accidentally spill coffee on someone, the moment that should've ruined your day becomes the beginning of a surprising and life-changing friendship.

Noah has spent years chasing myths everyone else dismissed as stories. A quiet coastal village. A missing myth hunter. A place where something ancient has begun to stir. Some legends don't stay buried forever. A slow-burn MM paranormal romance filled with ancient myths, dark secrets, and ancient beings lurking beneath the waves...

A weathered wooden heart, carved from an old fig tree, becomes the one thing that stays with Isabella through every season of her life - a first love who vanishes without explanation, a fiancé who was only ever after her family's land, and finally a quiet carpenter who looks at all her scars and calls them beautiful instead of broken. Spanning from girlhood to old age in a small seaside town, it's a story about the marks people leave on us, and about learning that those marks aren't proof we failed to love well - they're proof we never stopped. A simple thought from the story: We often want love to leave us unmarked, smooth and untouched, like nothing ever happened. But the heart isn't meant to stay new. It's meant to be lived in - cracked, weathered, and still standing anyway. That's not damage. That's what survival looks like.

The tale of a romance between a humble fisherman and a selkie.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that Mr. Darcy does not exist. Many a young woman has spent years looking for her perfect Mr. Darcy, but Kate Thomas knows better. As a 29-year-old recently widowed southerner, she sets off to find herself on the other side of the ocean in the very country where Mr. Darcy's life was penned. Looking only to escape reminders of her heartache, Kate journeys to places she never thought she'd go -- finding faith, love, and family. This is not a P & P retelling but the story of a woman's journey to discover what real love is. An ocean ... it's vast and powerful. The water that fills it can bring death, or offer life. Kate Thomas moves her life across an ocean to conquer the hold of her past and find new life for her future. Not Quite Mr.Darcy is women's fiction with clean romance (kisses only). It tackles forgiving the seemingly unforgivable and the disillusionment many a woman has faced upon realizing that the perfect husband they've been raised to look for doesn't exist. Kate, a recent widow, leaves her hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. Seeking distance from her past she takes a job in Kingsdown, England, working with a dementia patient in a cottage overlooking the English Channel. What she finds there is much more than she anticipated. Kate learns to find joy even in the hardest circumstances. Available now on Amazon as an ebook and paperback! For the latest check my website: kimgriffin.org

Claire learned many things through the death of her mom; her Realizations of Loss, how to pretend you're fine, and how to run from the past. Taken in by aunt and moved to the small town of Brookedale on the North Carolina coast, Claire wanted to escape the pain and the life she found herself living. Having become a recluse, she struggles to reconnect with the town her mom grew up in and she had once loved herself. She attempts to find herself again, reignite the light in her, but she finds herself confronting the haunting past every time she seems to get better. Told through the lenses of a teenager dealing with tragic loss, this story explores the complexity of someone grieving not only a loved one, but a life they once had. Formerly titled 'Losing Everything'

"Not everything lost should ever be found..." The moment Somya and Finn stepped into the abandoned lighthouse, the ground trembled, the air turned ice-cold... and something moved in the dark where no one stood. The town calls it superstition. But the journal they found says otherwise. Missing children. A forgotten legend. A presence lurking in the dark. Something in Coralville was never meant to be disturbed. But now that they've seen the signs... it won't let them leave.

Mira and Tommy take a quiet walk along an unusually empty boardwalk, the wind pulling at Mira's shawl and teasing Tommy's detective-style hat. But something isn't right; the waves lap, the wind whispers, yet the world feels off. When Tommy investigates a strange, rhythmic flapping behind the market stalls, he stumbles upon something he was never meant to see. In that moment, Mira, gripped by creeping dread no longer recognizes Tommy as the man she knew. And when she runs, she leaves behind more than just her fear.

🌙 Ava Hart thought Blackwater Bay would be a new beginning. Instead, it became the key to a past she couldn't remember. Haunted by forgotten memories, mysterious warnings, and Lucas Blackwood-the man who seems to know more about her than he should, Ava is pulled into a fifteen year old mystery that was never meant to be solved. The truth is waiting. And it's darker than she imagined.

She came to Clearwater Cove to forget. He was supposed to be a stranger. But the first time their eyes met, he whispered her name and she'd never told it to anyone in this town. Some secrets are buried. Some are waiting to be found. And some will change everything.

He left without a goodbye. Now he's back - taller, quieter, and looking at me like I'm still his everything. Camélia Evans had two constants growing up: the smell of sea salt from the harbor... and Noah Reyes, her next-door best friend. But after disappearing three years ago with no warning - no texts, no goodbyes - Noah suddenly returns for their senior year. And he's not the boy she remembers. He's distant. Closed off. Still familiar, but not. Camélia doesn't know whether to hug him or hate him. But when old memories resurface - and unspoken feelings begin to burn brighter - Camélia realizes: Some friendships never end. They just wait. But can you fall in love with someone you haven't really forgiven?

The Fish Ghost story revolves around a mysterious spectral presence haunting a coastal town's waters. As the tale unfolds, locals discover a connection between the ghost and an unsolved marine mystery, leading to a suspenseful journey of unraveling secrets and confronting the supernatural. The narrative explores themes of redemption, environmental impact, and the delicate balance between the spirit world and the ocean realm.

elizabeth's life was perfectly fine until the death of her father. lately, more tragedies have occurred in her city, and she and her best friend, jensen, begin to connect the dots. with the help of jensen's sister, effie, and her close friend, graham, they try to stop the phenomenon from happening.

Ending up in her coastal hometown after nearly a decade away from home, Danielle tries to learn what it means to live and gain control of her life again. It isn't until after a run‑in with the town's golden boy, Emiliano Morales, that Morgan realizes taking risks for herself is only one step to regain control. Emil has a duty for the company in his family name. and she is slowly becoming more than just a welcome distraction. What Danielle doesn't know is that Emil has a secret of his own that's strangely similar to hers. And what neither of the two know is that their secrets will unintentionally bring them together, reminding the duo that they aren't as alone as they often feel. Dani is about to discover that monsters really do exist, and her life will never be the same again. Can Danielle learn to change her perspective and take what life has to offer? And can Emil learn to control the power that might make him a monster? There's only one answer.

Amara Daniels - 22, an aspiring fashion designer who just finished university. She's creative, optimistic, but sometimes doubts her own abilities. Ethan Cole - 25, a young entrepreneur who runs a small but growing coffee shop. He's charming, hardworking, but cautious with love after a past heartbreak.

When lifelong orphan Soulen Caddavid moves to a seaside town in Newfoundland with his newest set of foster parents, he immediately starts looking for a reason to run away back to the USA. Instead he finds a reason to stay-his new friend, Sunshine Crickett. Crickett is different from the other kids in town... much nicer, for one, but also more mysterious. Finally Crickett lets Soulen in on his secret... he is the protecter of an ancient key that leads to a huge chest of gold. But nothing is as it seems in Cormorant Cove...