Marybeth Whalen – författare

Twenty-five years after she began exchanging drawings with a mysterious boy in the guest book of a Carolina beach house, Macy Dillon is back at Sunset Beach—this time toting a hurting heart and a broken family. Questions of childhood, loss, and longing for love are explored in The Guest Book. 

When Macy Dillon was five years old her father encouraged her to draw a picture in the guestbook of a Carolina beach house. The next year, Macy returned to discover a drawing by an unidentified little boy on the facing page. Over the next eleven years the children continue to exchange drawings … until tragedy ends visits to the beach house altogether. During her final trip to Sunset, Macy asks her anonymous friend to draw her one last picture and tells him where to hide the guest book in hopes that one day she will return to find it—and him.

Twenty-five years after that first picture, Macy is back at Sunset Beach—this time toting a broken family and a hurting heart. One night, alone by the ocean, Macy asks God to help her find the boy she never forgot, the one whose beautiful pictures touched something deep inside of her. Will she ever find him? And if she does, will the guestbook unite them or merely be the relic of a lost childhood?

Savvy, determined Ivy Marshall discovers that her husband has cheated on her on the very same day her sister’s perfect boyfriend proposes on national television. Can she hold it together while she plans the wedding?

When Ivy’s mother asks her to return to her family’s beach home to plan her sister’s upcoming wedding, she decides to use the excuse to escape from the pain of her broken heart.

When her return to Sunset Beach, North Carolina, she begins to question her choice to marry her husband Elliot, rather than her childhood sweetheart (and jilted ex-fiancé) Michael. However, when Ivy refuses to talk to her estranged husband, he resorts to tweeting to her, expressing his remorse and making it clear he doesn’t want to give up on their marriage. Her friends seem to be on Elliot’s side, pressuring her to forgive him and move on. But how can she?

As she helps prepare the wishing tree for her sister’s wedding, she must examine her dreams for her own future and what true love should be.

A surprise gift from her late husband will give a young widow the chance to do the hardest thing in the world . . . move on.

On their honeymoon, the new Mr. & Mrs. Ryan Shaw made a pact: No matter the sacrifices along the way, one day they would return to Sunset Beach, North Carolina—this time to buy their own home.

But that dream was not to be. Seven years into a beautiful marriage, Emily is left a widow, heartbroken, and way past caring about anything.

Until a man approaches her, claiming to have something left to her from Ryan. Something secret.

Unsure if she can ever embrace a new life without her husband, but even less sure about continuing to stay where she is, Emily heads to the coast to keep her end of the promise she once made.

Without delay, she becomes immersed in the lives of the locals, including the reclusive bridge tender with an unexpected past. As the community debates over building a new bridge, Emily must decide whether she will build a bridge of her own, one that will take her out of a painful past and into the new life—and new love—that her lost love made possible.

The reality show ended with an engagement, so why doesn’t this feel like the fairy tale she thought it would be?

The Rejection Connection hardly sounds like the place to fall in love, but Wynne Hardy walked off the reality-TV set with an engagement ring. And in the whirlwind of publicity and preparation that follows a TV-bride-to-be in her fifteen minutes of fame, Wynne barely has time to consider how she really feels about her new fiancé . . . to say nothing of how she still feels about her ex.

As the wedding plans develop, so too do Wynne’s doubts: Is she in love with Andy? Or is this really about Callum—the ex-boyfriend who sent her onto Rejection Connection in the first place? A nationally televised snub might be the best revenge . . . but is it a good reason to get married?

When Callum resurfaces at the worst possible moment, Wynne can’t help wondering if she’s made a huge mistake. Is her marriage a publicity stunt? And what happens when the cameras stop rolling, and she has a husband she barely knows?

The Guest Book

Twenty-five years after she began exchanging drawings with a mysterious boy in the guest book of a Carolina beach house, Macy Dillon is back at Sunset Beach—this time toting a hurting heart and a broken family. Questions of childhood, loss, and longing for love are explored in author Marybeth Whalen’s touching and thought-provoking, The Guest Book.

The Wishing Tree

Savvy, determined Ivy Marshall discovers that her husband has cheated on her on the very same day her sister’s perfect boyfriend proposes on national television. When Ivy’s mother asks her to return to her family’s beach home to plan her sister’s upcoming wedding, she decides to use the excuse to escape from the pain of her broken heart.

The Bridge Tender

A surprise gift from her late husband will give a young widow the chance to do the hardest thing in the world . . . move on.