OUT NOW · A REHOBOTH BEACH NOVEL
Forty years ago, she left him at the altar.
Now their best friends are getting married, and there’s no avoiding him.
GET THE BOOK
Bookshop.org supports your local independent bookstore. In Rehoboth, ask for it at Browseabout Books on the Avenue, where signed copies will be waiting.
THE LOVE
Second chance
Later in life
THE SERIES
Book 2 of the Rehoboth Beach novels
Reads on its own
THE PLACE
Small-town beach
Rehoboth, Delaware
HEAT
Sweet
A little spark
I write about women in the second half of life who find love when they’ve stopped expecting it, because I believe love is for any age. The emails I treasure most are from readers telling me about their own second chances.
FROM DEBORAH
Beth and Andy, forty years later
THE STORY
A bookstore on the avenue. A wedding neither of them can skip. One decision, forty years old, that was never quite finished.
Forty years ago, Beth made the hardest decision of her life. On the day she was supposed to marry Andy, she walked away from the man she loved and the life everyone expected her to choose. With a dream job in New York City too compelling to ignore, she left him standing at the altar, never expecting him to forgive her, or to see him again.
Now, after a successful publishing career, Beth has moved to Rehoboth Beach in search of a quieter, simpler life, even as the town brings back memories of Andy. When their lifelong friends announce they’re getting married, the two are suddenly thrown together for a wedding neither can escape.
Andy has never truly forgiven the woman who shattered his heart. Beth never stopped wondering what if: whether achieving her career dreams was worth losing the love of her life. As the wedding draws near, old hurts give way to new understanding. Old sparks rekindle.
In their early sixties, Beth and Andy will have to decide whether the past has already written their ending, or whether love deserves one more chance.
THE SETTING
Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
A mile of boardwalk, a bookstore on the Avenue, and a town with a long memory.
The boardwalk
Where Andy learns to fly a mermaid kite from the people at Rehoboth Toy & Kite, who have been there forever.
The beach at the end of the street
Shoes stashed under the boardwalk, just like when they were engaged. Some habits outlast forty years.
Browseabout Books
Beth’s day job, her hiding place, and the bench out front where the hardest conversations happen.
The Savvys’ table
Seven friends, one book and wine club, a mocktail circle in the sand lit by solar lanterns, and a wedding to plan.
READ THE OPENING
Beth’s gray eyes widened. Heart pounding, she ducked behind the romance shelf and chanced a quick peek. No. It couldn’t be! That profile, strong chin, chiseled cheekbones. Same deep red hair color, but now with a touch of gray at the temples. Beth patted her own silver curls.
She turned and practically bolted to the break room.
“Who is he?” Katherine asked. “Do I need to call our security guy?”
“No. No. It’s not that.” She sat down heavily in the wicker lounger. “He’s…he was…my fiancé.”
“Fiancé?!”
“Ex-fiancé. I haven’t seen him in forty years.”
“You’re sixty-one years old, Beth. Be an adult and go say hello.”
“Can’t. He still hates me. If by some wild chance a tall, red-headed, slightly gray, good-looking guy asks for me, tell him I’m not working today. Or that I’m on vacation in Timbuktu or Paris or anywhere.”
Katherine lifted an eyebrow but nodded. “Okay. Hide for now. But after work, ‘Lucy, you’ve got some ’splaining to do.’”
CHAPTER ONE · WEDDING PLANS
WHY I WRITE THESE BOOKS
Love is for any age, not just the young.
I’ve read romance since I was a teenager, and somewhere along the way the heroines stopped looking like me. So I write the stories I wanted to find about women later in life—divorced, widowed or never married—who thought that chapter had closed and discover it hasn’t. Each of my heroines is drawn from real women I know. I’m pro-aging, not anti-aging. A woman of sixty may have thirty good years ahead of her, and there’s no reason love can’t be part of them. I want my readers to come away with real hope.
EARLY PRAISE
What reviewers are saying
“
The dialogue is one of the strongest elements of this Rehoboth Beach romance. From Beth’s friends to her conversations with Andy, there’s a charm to the banter but also an honesty that’s refreshing.
SHELBY BROOKS · US REVIEW OF BOOKS
“
Deborah Smith Cook injects romantic discovery into the lives and approaches of these second-chance lovers, adding the trappings of small town atmosphere and holiday season celebrations into the mix.
DIANE DONOVAN · MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW
NEWSLETTER
Pull up a chair at the Savvys’ table.
Be the first to hear whose love story is coming next, and get your invitation to the Savvy Book Club. Once a month on Zoom, readers gather to read the books the Savvys read.
ALSO BY DEBORAH
Start where the Rehoboth Beach series began
Finding Home introduced the town, the Savvys, and a woman who came to the shore to start over. A 2025 Holt Medallion Finalist for Best First Novel. Read it first or after; the two stand on their own. More of the Savvys’ stories are on the way.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Deborah Smith Cook
Deborah Smith Cook is the author of Finding Home, a 2025 Holt Medallion Finalist for Best First Novel. Wedding Plans is her second Rehoboth Beach novel.
She lives in Virginia, where she hosts the Savvy Book Club on Zoom each month. Your invitation comes with her newsletter.