Fire Island Series by Hazel Jacks

It was the summer of 2004...PennI didn’t go looking for her, but I wanted her from the moment we met.To know her. To have her. Even just for a night—until I found out how old she was. That should have been it. The end.She was too young, and far too good for me. She had everything, and I had nothing to offer.Still, all I wanted was her. Before I realized what was happening, I was in way too deep.One summer was all we could have... moreIt was the summer of 2004...PennI didn’t go looking for her, but I wanted her from the moment we met.To know her. To have her. Even just for a night—until I found out how old she was. That should have been it. The end.She was too young, and far too good for me. She had everything, and I had nothing to offer.Still, all I wanted was her. Before I realized what was happening, I was in way too deep.One summer was all we could have. A stolen season that would glimmer in my memory like a fragment of starlight stolen and tucked away. A love that would color every song I ever wrote from then on.Love didn’t matter, though. It wasn’t enough. Not for a girl like Raegan. The only way to give her what she deserved was to break her heart.And mine.RaeganAll I wanted was a summer fling.It was the last summer I’d spend on Fire Island before moving across the country for college. I wasn’t looking for anything serious—I wasn’t looking for love.But then I met Penn.He wasn’t like anyone I’d ever known, and he wasn’t the playboy he pretended to be. He was sweet and caring, drop-dead gorgeous, and it didn’t hurt that he was a musician. He made me feel like I was all that mattered to him. He became my entire world in a matter of weeks.I’d been coming to the seaside community on Fire Island from NYC for years in the summers. But this summer, everything felt different. Everything was different.Because of him. And this summer, I didn’t want to leave. I gave him my heart...my body...my soul…I was willing to give him my future too. But it wasn’t enough.Saltaire is book one of the Fire Island Series. Penn and Raegan’s story will be concluded in book two. less

A lot can change in ten years...RaeganFirst loves are false and fleeting. I’ve been trying to make myself believe that for years now. This is my first time back to Fire Island since the summer before college–since Penn broke my heart.I knew it was inevitable that I’d see him here, and yet, even after a decade apart, I wasn’t prepared. Not for his striking eyes that still turn my heart inside out. Not for the way a quick flash of his tattoos sends heat flooding my skin... moreA lot can change in ten years...RaeganFirst loves are false and fleeting. I’ve been trying to make myself believe that for years now. This is my first time back to Fire Island since the summer before college–since Penn broke my heart.I knew it was inevitable that I’d see him here, and yet, even after a decade apart, I wasn’t prepared. Not for his striking eyes that still turn my heart inside out. Not for the way a quick flash of his tattoos sends heat flooding my skin. Penn is in my past, though, and Joshua is my future. Handsome, kind, financially secure. He’s everything a woman could want in a husband. It shouldn’t matter that he’s not Penn, and maybe once we’re married, it won’t.But seeing Penn again after all this time reminds me why I’ve never really let him go.PennWhen I pushed Raegan away, I knew I’d regret it. I just didn’t understand how much. Now she’s back on Fire Island for a visit, looking every bit as beautiful as the day she left.I would have gone to California to win her back, but life had other plans for me. Instead, I let her believe I’d forgotten.I’ve had ten long years to contemplate the past, and she’s spent most of that time building her future. The future she deserves. In our time apart, I’ve relearned how to live, letting my music piece together the wounds of life, and doing my best to forget the biggest mistake I ever made. But when fate throws us together again, I can’t help feeling like it’s meant to be. The problem? Even if I can convince Raegan our love never faded, she’s marrying someone else. For the best reading experience, Saltaire, which is book one of the Fire Island series, should be read before Return to Saltaire. less

EamonA quiet life on Fire Island became the perfect way for me to pay penance.Maybe the accident wasn’t my fault…but my choices changed the lives of people I loved. Forever. I’ll never be able to take that back.The howling winter wind and cold temperature make me want to stay inside, drinking away my sorrows, but I promised my family and friends I’d change, or at least that I’d try... moreEamonA quiet life on Fire Island became the perfect way for me to pay penance.Maybe the accident wasn’t my fault…but my choices changed the lives of people I loved. Forever. I’ll never be able to take that back.The howling winter wind and cold temperature make me want to stay inside, drinking away my sorrows, but I promised my family and friends I’d change, or at least that I’d try.So I drag myself to weekly therapy and keep my body busy remodeling my buddy’s house, and surfing in the frigid waves when I can, and that seems to be enough. Until Sadie Baker moves in. She’s only going to be here for a few months, but she makes me laugh, she makes me think, and she makes me feel alive…almost like myself again.That’s why I offered to pretend to be her boyfriend on a visit home to show her ex-fiancé that she’d moved on. But suddenly, nothing feels like pretending.And I don’t know if I’ll ever be whole enough to share my heart again.SadieThe double mastectomy probably saved me from the same fate so many women in my family suffered, but it left me feeling more than different. It left me feeling less.A few months after surgery I ran away from my cheating fiancé and my surfing oasis in Folly Beach. And I arrived on Fire Island in the middle of winter to start over.But starting over is hard, when I don’t recognize myself at all.Cold and lonely, I just have to make it through a few months here before I start a job in New York City. But when the pipes in my rental house burst, I have no choice but to move into the dusty and messy house my neighbor is remodeling across the way.It turns out that Eamon McLeod isn’t what I thought at all. He’s been through his own share of loss, and in a strange way he seems to understand what I’m going through. He’s not afraid of my scars, and he makes me feel beautiful.But when Eamon’s past comes crashing down around us, everything I thought we had is wrenched away. Though it hurts to watch, I know there are some battles he has to fight for himself.And even though I think I love him, I know that maybe some demons are too strong for love to conquer. less