"Dad…"
He winked. "Just teasing. Sort of. Looks like Aspen is about ready."
Aspen, now with dark blue hair in a long French braid and wearing a flowing, baby-blue dress, stood in front of the mic. She glanced over at Sky and Dad. He gave her a thumbs-up. Aspen nodded to the DJ.
A moment later, the music played. The tune sounded vaguely familiar, but Sky couldn't place it. Aspen had insisted on the song being a surprise. She belted out the first line, her beautiful voice dancing around the beach.
"Wait," Sky whispered. "Is that…?"
Dad hugged her. "The song you and Aspen wrote in grade school for your pretend weddings."
Sky's mouth dropped. "I can't believe she remembered." Sky had completely forgotten.
"She may be busy, but you're still part of her heart, honey."
"Dang it." Sky blinked back tears. She hadn't expected her sister to be the one who would make her cry first.
"Come on." Dad looped his arm around hers. "It's your time to shine."
As they approached, the guests all rose, but Sky's attention was focused on Jace. He was especially handsome standing there in the tuxedo. She pulled her gaze away and smiled at the guests—Haley and her fiancé, some of her other friends and family who had made it out, and some of the locals that had known Jace his whole life.
She and her father stopped at the front row and waited for the song to end. Aspen stepped back and met Sky's gaze. She smiled excitedly.
The minister stepped forward. "Who gives this bride away in marriage?"
Dad cleared his throat. "Her mother and I do." He kissed her cheek, and then sat next to Mom, who dabbed her eyes with a tissue.
A lump formed in her throat, but she turned to Jace and her heart soared. She walked over to him and he took both of her hands into his. The minister spoke about love and commitment, but she could barely focus. She was about to become Jace's wife—the luckiest woman in the world.
Finally, it was time to exchange the vows. The minister handed them both the rings. She and Jace repeated the traditional vows and slid the rings on each other's fingers.
"You may now kiss the bride."
Jace cupped her face and pressed his sweet lips on hers, deepening the kiss for a moment before pulling away with a love-struck expression that Sky was sure matched her own.
The minister stepped forward. "I'm pleased to be the first to introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Jace and Sky Fisher."
The audience broke out into applause and Aspen sang out Sky's favorite love song from their teen years. Jace led her down the aisle, and at the end, he stopped. "You've just made me the happiest man alive."
"And you—"
He kissed her deeply again, wrapped his arms around her, lifted her up, and spun her in a circle, but her heart soared higher. Maybe he was the happiest man alive, but she was the happiest person. She'd married the man of her dreams—the sweetest of dreams.
Sweet Dreams by Stacy Claflin
Ever since her twin became a singing sensation, Sky Hampton has struggled to be appreciated for who she is—apart from her sister. She wards off Aspen's fans, who beg for autographs and selfies everywhere Sky goes. She can't even find a guy who likes her for her. Sky flees to the small coastal town of Indigo Bay in hopes of blending in and building her blossoming career.
Jace Fisher is the textbook definition of the strong silent type—nobody can break through his tough exterior. He has suffered more than his fair share of tragedies, and to protect his shattered heart, he pushes everyone away. Jace spends his days fixing the Indigo Bay cottages, and his nights… nobody really knows. He keeps to himself.
When Jace shows up to fix Sky's AC, he barely notices her and she's distracted with settling in. It takes an emergency situation to get them talking, and when they do, the two find they have more in common than first appeared. As their attraction grows, defenses soar. Will they be able to risk love when they've both been burned in the past?
Sweet Matchmaker by Jean Oram
Ginger McGinty hates liars. And she just married a spy.
Bridal shop owner Ginger McGinty excels at matchmaking unless it's for herself. That is, until she meets the dreamy Aussie who helps her get into an event meant for engaged couples. Logan Stone is sweet, caring, thoughtful and fun—everything she desires in a man. But it turns out, her new fake fiancé could use a bit more than just a pretend engagement to get him into parties—he needs a quick marriage keep him in the country so he can be with his adopted special needs daughter.
With a marriage of convenience pro-con list longer than the average wedding veil, Ginger puts her faith in romance and offers Logan her hand in return for one thing—no lies.
But little does she know, almost everything she knows about her new husband is based on a lie.
Everything except his kisses and the way he accidentally spills his soul whenever they meet. And that's quickly becoming a problem for Logan Stone who depends on distance and deceit to keep civilians such as Ginger safe from his enemy's clutches.
Will the two find love in their marriage of convenience, or will everything break apart when the truth rises to the surface, shattering everything, including their trust?
Sweet Sunrise by Kay Correll
Sometimes life has a way of teaching lessons whether you're ready to learn them or not…
The last place on earth Will Layton wants to be is Indigo Bay, but his younger sister needs him and he's never been able to say no to her. But she left out a few details… like their father staying with her and the girl who dumped him years ago is living right next door.
The last person Dr. Ashley Harden thought she'd see in Indigo Bay is Will Layton, but he's back in town and just as irresistible as when they were young. Seeing Will again is a complication that isn't on her carefully mapped out life plan.
In spite of Ashley's best intentions, she starts falling for Will again, but nothing has changed. She's still focused on getting the townspeople to accept her and see her as more than the girl from the wrong side of town, while Will is determined to guard his heart at any cost.
Not the easiest road to true love… especially when secrets from the past are revealed and history threatens to repeat itself.
Sweet Illusions by Jeanette Lewis
Eva Malone was very young when her mother forced the family to join a violent doomsday cult, but she remembers a little about how normal life used to be. As a young woman, she escapes the cult and relocates to Indigo Bay, South Carolina to pursue her dream of peaceful anonymity.
After several tumultuous years as a policeman in Atlanta, Ben Andrews has had enough. He returns home to Indigo Bay and joins the Indigo Bay PD, where the most exciting part of the job is getting a kitten out of a tree or rescuing tourists who lose their keys at the beach.
Eva and Ben are immediately drawn to each other. But as the prophesied date of the apocalypse draws near and the cult steps up its efforts to find her, Eva realizes she can't maintain her sweet illusion forever.
Sweet Regrets by Jennifer Peel
Melanie Dixon never thought she would find herself divorced, pregnant, and living back with her parents in Indigo Bay. Not one to let misfortune get the best of her, she picks up the broken pieces of her life and bit by bit puts them back together. She's determined to go it alone, but her loving and equally determined family and friends have another idea.
Enter Declan Shaw, the boy next door from long ago. The boy she wasn't quite ready to commit forever to at eighteen. Back in Indigo Bay due to a recent job promotion, Declan sees this as a second chance to reunite with the girl who has owned his heart since the day they met in their junior year of high school. But Melanie is a tougher sell on the idea than he thought she would be. Now it's up to him to prove to Melanie that she can trust him with her heart and that he's the man she and her baby deserve.
Will the regret and hurt of the past win out? Or will love prevail?
Sweet Rendezvous by Danielle Stewart
On her last tank of gas Elaine Mathews drives South. Spontaneity had never been her strength, but there was something about being publicly fired that had a way of changing things. An empty bank account, broken heart, and enough humiliation to last a life time was all Elaine could claim as her own. Her car choked to a stop in the quiet beach town of Indigo Bay and all she could do was sit on the curb and wait for the sun to set on her misery.
Davis Mills has a routine. Wake. Work. Eat. Sleep. Repeat. It hadn't always been that way. He'd left indigo bay once and returned a broken man. Now he kept his dreams small and his schedule tight. If there was no room in his life for anything new then he'd never repeat his mistakes.
When fate has them, quite literally colliding Elaine and Davis are faced with an important question. Can you live a full life if you never take a risk? Or is life made up of every mistake, miracle and chance that comes with being in love?
For purchase links and other information: http://stacyclaflin.com/books/indigo-bay-sweet-romance-series/
If you enjoyed Sweet Dreams, you'll love the Hunters! You may want to start with Bayside Promises, which is Haley's story of finding love despite a painful past. (Read a sneak peek after the list of books.) Or you can start at the beginning with the Seaside Hunters! It's up to you…
The Hunters
Meet the Hunter brothers of Kittle Falls…
The Seaside Hunters novels are a series of contemporary sweet romances. They're set in the charming beach town of Kittle Falls, following the California Hunters as they make their way back to their hometown and find the loves they couldn't elsewhere.
The Seaside Hunters
Seaside Surprises
Work hard. Play often. Love unconditionally.
Tiffany Saunders is on the run. When she winds up stranded in a seaside town, she wants nothing more than to forget her horrific past and kept moving. But a chance meeting with a handsome local changes everything.
Jake Hunter has some deep emotional scars and is trying to cope with running the family business. The last thing he wants is a relationship—until a mysterious brunette walks into his store and complicates it all.
Tiffany prefers to keep the painful memories of the past where they belong—in her rear view mirror. But dark secrets cannot stay hidden forever. Just as the walls around Tiffany's heart start to come down, the past catches up with her. Will true love be able to conquer all?
Seaside Heartbeats
Sometimes love shows up when you least expect it.
After years of hard work, architect Lana Summers just wants a relaxing vacation in the beach town of Kittle Falls. Instead, she suffers unexpected heart problems, and finds herself in the office of a gorgeous cardiologist—who only makes her heart work harder.
Brayden Hunter left his successful cardiology practice in Dallas to be closer to his aging parents. Focused on building a health care clinic in his hometown, he doesn't want any distractions. However, the beautiful Lana is one he can't seem to avoid.
As their attraction grows, they stumble upon a 160-year-old mystery. Brayden catches her adventurous spirit as they chase after answers, and he can't help falling for her. But can he convince her to stay in the small beach town and with him?
Seaside Dances
Dream big. Dance often. Love completely.
Zachary Hunter is no stranger to rejection. After multiple failed efforts to get his novel published in New York, he's counting on a trip home to turn his luck around.
Jasmine Blackwell has big dreams. She hopes her internship as a dance instructor in Kittle Falls will be the stepping stone she needs to achieve her lifelong goals.
After a chance meeting, neither Zachary nor Jasmine can deny their attraction. They fear their aspirations are too big to let a relationship tie them down. Can they have both love and the careers of their dreams?
Seaside Kisses
People change, but some feelings last forever.
Rafael Hunter never thought he'd return to Kittle Falls, but life gave him no other choice. Los Angeles chewed him up, spit him out, and sent him back to square one.
Amara Fowler has lived in the small beach town her entire life. She's overcome her shyness to grow into the woman she always knew she could be, but she never forgot her secret crush. When the alluring Rafael returns, he can't help but stir in her a whirlwind of old feelings.
They've both changed so much. Has life kept them incompatible or has it molded them into a matching set?
Seaside Christmas
He can't stand her. She thinks he's crazy. Will their feelings stay etched in permanent ink?
Cruz Hunter has always stuck out in his small hometown. Now that he's covered in tattoos, the residents peg him as even more of an outcast. It seems like the whole world is against his dream of opening a local tattoo parlor.
When he finally finds the perfect place for his new business, Cruz discovers a pastor and his daughter have already bought it. The only thing more irritating than the change in his plan is Talia, a beautiful and feisty argument in a dress. Cruz would like nothing more than to have her out of his life and his mind, but for some reason, she's the only thing he can think about.
If Cruz and Talia can stop arguing long enough, opposites may do much more than attract.
Purchase links.
Meet the Hunter siblings of Enchantment Bay…
We met three of them in the Seaside series: Logan, Sullivan, and Dakota. Now we finally get to meet the "babies" of the family – twins, Freya and Shale. They're all about to meet the loves of their lives, they just don't know it yet!
If you enjoyed your time with the Seaside Hunters, you'll love spending time with their Oregon cousins!
The Bayside Hunters
Bayside Wishes
She's guarding a family secret. He's investigating a murder. Will a second homecoming lead to true love?
Freya Hunter is living the fabulous life. The west-coast girl rakes it in as a fashion model in New York City, but everything changes after she returns home for a quick visit.
The reunion with friends and family in Enchantment Bay is sweet, especially when she hits it off with Nico Valentin, a ruggedly handsome police sergeant. As Nico investigates a murder, Freya learns a family secret big enough to turn her world upside down.
Freya is torn between her new life and her hometown — the life she loves vs. the brother who needs her and the sergeant who wants her. When her decision doesn't go nearly as well as she planned, she wonders if she can help her brother and keep her growing feelings for Nico at bay before they consume her.
Bayside Evenings
She's single and stuck. His relationship is going nowhere. Will the next wedding they plan… be their own?
Dakota Hunter is great at wedding planning but terrible at finding a guy. Each one she encounters is worse than the one before… until she meets Clay. There's one teensy problem: her attractive new assistant has a long-term girlfriend.
Clay Harper is thrilled to land his new job with Dakota, surrounding himself with happy couples day in and day out. But when he sees true love in person, he realizes his own relationship is far less than happy. It doesn't help that being around Dakota feels easy. It feels right.
As Dakota and Clay grow a deeper connection, Clay's girlfriend refuses to go down without a fight. Can the wedding planners go from seeing happy couples… to being one?
Bayside Promises
She's wounded. He's driven. Could they be exactly what the other needs?
Ten years earlier, Haley Faraway fled home without looking back. After her father's death, she reluctantly returns to Enchantment Bay to help her mom and sister. Painful memories haunt her, and Haley finds herself pouring her heart out to the one person she least expected—the impossibly gorgeous, albeit short-tempered, Sullivan Hunter.
Sullivan wants nothing more than to focus on his newly-acquired realty business. But when Haley comes back to town, he can't deny his attraction to her. After a string of bad relationships with g
old-digging women, she's a breath of fresh air. Or is she? Just as he begins to get comfortable with their burgeoning relationship, he discovers she's a realtor, too. His temper gets the best of him as he suspects he's being used by yet another woman.
Every time Haley and Sullivan clear one hurdle, another looms larger in their path and they push each other away. Can they move on from from their painful pasts and find love—or are they doomed to repeat old mistakes?
Bayside Destinies and Bayside Promises are coming soon!
Purchase Links: Bayside Hunters.
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Seaside Hunters Short Stories
Seaside Beginnings
This is the story of Robert and Dawn, the five Hunter brothers' parents. We meet them in each of the Seaside books, and they've grown on readers almost as much as the brothers themselves. Now we get a glimpse into their story.
Seaside Memories
Sophia is the youngest of the Hunter siblings. Each of her brothers hold her memory in a special place. Her story is one of first love, second chances, and enjoying life.
Seaside Treasures
Allen and Jackie's story is of an unlikely love and healing old wounds. They couldn't be more different, but that could be exactly what they need.
Read these and many other short stories in Tiny Bites, a snack-sized multi-genre collection by Stacy Claflin.
Preview of Bayside Promises
Haley Faraway took a deep breath as she stepped into the large, elegant wedding hall. Why had she let her sister talk her into this?
She pulled some loose blonde hair behind her ear, straightened her back, and followed the noise of conversation. It led her down a sweet-smelling hallway decorated with beautiful summer flowers. She came to a set of already-open double doors leading outside.
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