When I first started writing The Do-Over, I knew I had to set it in my hometown in Maine. Why? Dorothy said it best when she repeated the mantra: There’s no place like home. Because there truly isn’t. I was very fortunate to grow up in a small, sleepy little fishing town where everybody knows everyone and all of your friends’ parents were your parents, too. No matter where we were or what misadventure we’d gotten ourselves into, we always knew we could count on someone to get us out of it. Whether it was thinking we were invincible and getting caught in high tide, or making a zipline from a clothesline and bicycle handles and jumping out of the second story bedroom window, (yes, we really did that – it was the 80s and parental supervision wasn’t a thing back then) we knew that once the street lights turned on, it was time to go home.
Do you remember that warm, fuzzy feeling you’d get after spending all day at the lake and then going home to your not airconditioned bedroom and grab a book and thinking there’s no other place you’d rather be? (Just me?) That warm and fuzzy feeling is what I want readers to feel when they finish reading The Do-Over. I want you, reader, to taste the salt in the air and know the tide is high. I want you to hear the gulls call and know the boats are back at the docks. I want you to sail the harbor at sunset and wonder: Could Finn have made this boat?
I wanted readers to feel like they were at home with the characters when reading the Finding Home series. Family is a very important anchor in the books and I wanted readers to connect with that. Connect with the people who make Rockport such a special place. Whether it’s the waitress at the Diner or the lobsterman selling his catch fresh off the boat—that small town uniqueness is what makes Rockport so special, and I wanted readers everywhere to experience what it’s like to live in such a wonderful place.
Although I grew up in a sleepy town on the coast of Maine, “home” has been many places for me. As an Army spouse, we’ve made our home across the United States for the past twenty years. I’ve always been able to make a house a home, but when you find “home” there’s nothing quite like it. We’re nearing the light at the end of the tunnel now—retirement, and my husband and I are struggling with where we want to call home. We’ve lived in some amazing places throughout this adventure but our hearts keep telling us we need to go back home. Coastal Maine! No matter where we ended up over my husband’s Military career, we were always certain of one thing—as long as we have family, friends, and each other, no matter where we end up, it’ll be home. We may have had a few bumps along the way, but eventually, we will get where we need to be, because home is a state of mind. It doesn’t matter where you were born, you’ll know when you’ve found your home.
The characters in the Finding Home series are lost. While they may be living life day to day, their hearts still haven’t found home. In The Do-Over, California socialite, Maggie, finds home with Finn in coastal Maine. Finn has always stayed true to his roots. He grew up with the ocean being his playground and knew that Maine was where he always wanted to be. Even though she wasn’t born there, Maggie connected with Maine and ended up calling it her home, too.
I really connected with Finn on that level, because the ocean was my playground growing up, and I even included some of my childhood memories as Finn’s in the book. Being able to include those special moments as a part of Finn’s history was special to me, and I can’t wait to hear from readers on which memories they think are my real memories!
Just like Maggie and Finn, life takes you to unexpected places. Love brings you home!
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Thank you so much for hosting me today!
Like you, my family have been tumbleweeds for my husbands work. It has been exciting, stressful, fun, and sometimes lonely. The trips back home where I grew up were times I spent recharging and showing my kids the things I loved from my youth. Who knows where we will eventually retire? But I hope to find a place that feels like home to me and, in the meantime, I appreciate reading stories that I can live this dream vicariously.