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| OG Surf and Skate Shop, Ocean Grove, New Jersey |
First of all, thank you so much, Anastasia, for
letting me come by and share some of the location inspiration for my new
release, One Summer Night, the first
book in the At the Shore Contemporary Romance series from Sourcebooks
Casablanca.
As you might guess from the series name, the stories
are set at the beach in Sea Kiss, a fictional town that is a melding of several
of my favorite towns along the Jersey Shore. Today I’m going to share a little
bit about one of those towns, Ocean Grove, which is one of my favorite shore
towns.
Located just south of neighboring Asbury Park, Ocean
Grove is a quaint town filled with lovely Victorian homes and a shopping
district with a hometown feel. You’ll get to taste some of that atmosphere in One Summer Night as the characters
stroll through town. There’s even a little homage to my daughter’s surf and
skate shop on Main Avenue.
Ocean Grove was originally founded by the Methodists
and is today still owned by the Camp Meeting Association. For that reason, the
town is dry and many of the homes are on land that is owned by the Association
and only leased to the homeowners. Not that long ago, residents could not park
their cars in town on Sunday and to this day, the beach does not open until
noon on Sundays to allow residents to attend religious services. Some of those
services are actually held in a small pavilion on the boardwalk.
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| Ocean Grove tent camp |
One of the most interesting elements in town that
track to its faith-based mission are the tents which are erected every May and
taken down in late September. The tents are a holdover from when the Methodists
would hold their camp revival meetings on the beach. At some point the
structures became more permanent with small sheds to hold the kitchens and
bathrooms and the tented area for sleeping. They are lovely to see and are
decorated quite nicely by the summer residents. Some of the residents are
descendants of the original Methodists who constructed the tents. More than 100
of them remain in town.
In One Summer
Night, the families of the heroes and heroines have lived in Sea Kiss for
nearly a century and have grand Victorian homes on the beachfront. It was so
much fun to craft these homes and the nearby town to give you a taste of what I
love about the Jersey Shore and Ocean Grove in particular. The town is a unique
gem, so much so, that the entire town has been designated a National Historic
landmark.
But for me it’s not just the beautiful homes, main
street and of course, the beach, it’s about the wonderful sense of community
that exists in the town.
I remember going there with my daughter a week after
Hurricane Sandy hit the area to see how her store had fared. She was lucky not
to have damage, but the boardwalk area was hit pretty hard. When we got to the
boardwalk there were dozens and dozens of residents out there cleaning up the
mess. From little ones picking up small pieces of wood to adults of all ages,
they were there trying to put things to right.
You’ll see some mention of that in One Summer Night as well, since the hero
and heroine, Maggie Sinclair and Owen Pierce, are quite involved in Sea Kiss
and helping to keep it thriving.
I hope you enjoyed this look into the inspiration for
Sea Kiss, my little town in the At the Shore series. I hope you’ll check out One Summer Night, which is now available
for pre-order and will be out in print and e-book on October 3. The second book
in the series, What Happens in Summer,
will be out in late Spring 2018, and you’ll get to spend some more time with
Owen’s brother Jonathan and Maggie’s best friend Connie Reyes. Plus you’ll get
to see a little more of Sea Kiss!
An offer that’s impossible to accept…
Maggie Sinclair has tried everything to save her family’s business, including mortgaging their beloved beach house on the Jersey shore. But now, she’s out of options.
The Sinclair and Pierce families have been neighbors and enemies for almost thirty years. That hasn’t stopped Owen Pierce from crushing on Maggie, and he’s determined to invest in her success. Now he has to convince her that he’s more than just trouble with a capital T…
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2 comments:
The Jersey shore is where my family vacationed when I was a child. I actually thought that's where every family went for vacation (smile!).
I did't discover the Jersey Shore until later in life, but now that I have, I just love it! It's my little piece of heaven on earth!
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