Mary K. Tilghman
Sweet Romance
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Mary K. Tilghman loves to tell a story about love, hope, faith, forgiveness, family, supportive communities. All of her novels in some way celebrate her home state of Maryland and the surrounding area.
From her historical novels DIVIDED LOYALTIES or LOVE LETTERS & GINGERBREAD, to her sweet romances, Mary wants readers to step away from modern life and all its stress to immerse themselves in her caring worlds filled with people seeking love and a better way of living.
A Baltimore native, and journalist for 45 years, Mary has written travel guides for Frommer's, and articles for local and national publications. Enough of the serious writing, let's tell a story and fall in love.
Mary is madly in love with her husband of more than 40 years. Together they have three wonderful adult children and one grandchild. When Mary isn't writing—which is all the time—she likes to sail and play the hammered dulcimer.
Now...let me tell you a story.
5 STARS
We need a little happy right now
Why did I chose this rating? This book has twists, it has conflict. It has resolution. However it took me out of pandemic thickness to the natural beauty of western Maryland.
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I recommend this book to anyone wanting to escape and go to a happy place that brings them to full circle happily ever after.
Reviews
5 STARS
Great combination of fiction and actual historical events
I enjoyed getting to know the characters Mary created and the descriptions of the beautiful historical inn. I was pulled into the challenges the various characters faced and was relieved to see the happy ending.
Great book! Enjoyed the references to local Maryland places of interest and of course the movie quotes. Definitely a fun summer read. Hoping for a sequel!
Inn by the Lake
Standalone
Bad aim brought together the lawyer and the innkeepers’ son. Everything else drove them apart. Can the inn’s past promise them a future?
Amanda thought she was getting away from the pressures of work when she agreed to host a bridesmaids’ weekend at a lakeside inn. She planned perfectly for the bride and the rest of the bridal party—from the delicious dinners to quaint accommodations to a hike by the waterfalls.
She didn’t count on Luke, the innkeepers’ son, whose lack of tennis ability is just part of his charm. As they get to know the inn and each other on a tour of the 1880 Victorian inn, Amanda finds a long-lost diary that recounts a visit by a famous couple more than a century ago.
She also didn’t expect to get caught up in a battle over the inn’s future. While Luke and his parents struggle to save their business and home, Amanda discovers her own firm represents the developer planning to build a resort where the inn stands.
They’re destined to meet again, only this time on opposite sides at a hearing deciding the inn’s fate.
Can the diary Amanda and Luke found hold the key to saving the inn and perhaps their chance for a future together?
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Step into the Sunlight
Standalone
Born on opposite sides of the Boardwalk, the mayor’s son and French fry-stand owner’s daughter battle for their futures…and love.
Ava grew up amid the sizzle and steam of french fries so it’s no surprise she’s expected to spend the summer working at her mother’s shop on the Boardwalk. She’d rather not, since she prefers paint brushes to potato peelers but she can’t say no to Mom.
Eco-conscious Paul must set aside his goal of saving the oceans when he takes the reins of his family’s business empire.
The lives Ava and Paul lead in the tight-knit community of Ocean City, Maryland, couldn’t be more different yet both yearn to escape the shadows cast by their families.
Ava gets her chance when a marketing internship takes her to California and new friends empower her to launch her artistic career.
Paul hopes to direct his environmental passions into a new project, transforming a vacant building into a family-friendly attraction devoted to marine life.
Recognizing Ava’s creative talents, he turns to her for help. As their friendship blossoms, Paul hopes for romance—until he sees a spark kindling between Ava and his brother Charlie.
Lost in the shadows of family, can Paul and Ava unite to reach their goals and find love as they step into the sunlight?
STEP INTO THE SUNLIGHT is a story about family legacies, the need to be recognized for one’s talents, and the triumph of love over jealousy, all set against the summer backdrop of a beloved beach resort.
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Fearless Summer: Return to Chincoteague
Standalone
Charlotte reluctantly returns to her hometown, the summer resort of Chincoteague. Thousands of tourists flock here every summer to see the wild ponies made famous by Marguerite Henry’s Misty of Chincoteague and to play on the nearby ocean beaches.
But every corner reminds Charlotte of the love she lost. Here is where she grew up with Henry, fell in love with him in middle school, and planned a life together after college.
Her dreams came crashing down their senior year in college, when Henry confessed to cheating on her. Sheran away from college, her career goals, and even her hometown.
Now jobless, she’s come home for the summer, to help her sisters open a new candy shop. But she doesn’t plan to stay, convinced she has no future here. She’s intent on finding a new job by Labor Day, far from Chincoteague.
On her first day back, Charlotte crashes her bike into Henry while he in on a run from Assateague to Chincoteague. Henry feels the old spark while Charlotte still nurses an ache she can’t get rid of. Now the single father of a lively seven-year-old, Daphne, who stays with him only in the summer, Henry never hoped he and Charlotte could get together again.
Until now.
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The Last Gift
Standalone
Donna, an up-and-coming executive, tears herself away from work—but not her laptop—to join her sister on a summer cruise in the Adriatic Sea. The trip is a big step for Karen, whose husband booked the voyage just before his sudden death a year ago.
Karen warns her forever-single sister that Donna won’t find love on this ship. That’s fine with her since her focus is keeping her sister happy, while sneaking in a bit of business in her off-hours and trying to hide her fear of water.
Scottie, an officer on the ship, has to keep out of trouble after a recent fling with the bottle nearly cost him his job. Even though consorting with a passenger could threaten his own future, he can’t resist the lively, phobia-stricken workaholic.
It’s never hopeless to be a romantic, is it?
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