Meet the men and women of Drift­wood Bay, a Texas coastal town where neigh­bors know your name and cou­ples dis­cov­er a sec­ond chance at life—and love.

*Each small-town con­tem­po­rary romance in Coastal Dreams may be read as a stand­alone and in any order. The series will be avail­able exclu­sive­ly at Ama­zon and can be read for free in Kin­dle Unlimited. 

A bro­ken heart. A sec­ond chance. A coastal town where love might be worth the risk.

Car­son Andrews is still learn­ing how to breathe again. Two years after his wife’s mur­der, the sin­gle father pours every­thing he has into rais­ing his spir­it­ed four-year-old daugh­ter, Lily. When a new job brings Car­son to Drift­wood Bay as the town’s head bas­ket­ball coach—and soon after, its ath­let­ic director—he hopes the qui­et rhythm of this Texas coastal town will give them both the fresh start they need.

Mila Per­ry is done with dat­ing. A ded­i­cat­ed high school vol­ley­ball coach and the superintendent’s daugh­ter, she’s con­tent focus­ing on her career and her com­mu­ni­ty. Love feels messy, com­pli­cat­ed, and far too easy to lose. She nev­er expects to be drawn to the reserved newcomer—or to the lit­tle girl who quick­ly cap­tures her heart.

As Car­son set­tles into Drift­wood Bay, his con­nec­tion with Mila deep­ens from friend­ship into some­thing frag­ile and pro­found. Mila brings warmth and laugh­ter back into Carson’s life, form­ing a bond with Lily that feels both heal­ing and ter­ri­fy­ing. But their grow­ing feel­ings come with real con­se­quences. As ath­let­ic direc­tor, Car­son is respon­si­ble for Mila’s eval­u­a­tions, forc­ing them to nav­i­gate pro­fes­sion­al bound­aries just as their hearts become involved.

When an influ­en­tial com­mu­ni­ty mem­ber ques­tions their rela­tion­ship, pres­sure mounts. Fear­ing the fall­out could threat­en their careers—and Lily’s sense of security—Mila sug­gests they step back before every­thing they’ve built is torn apart.

But some sec­ond chances are worth fight­ing for.

Can Car­son and Mila over­come grief, expec­ta­tions, and fear to cre­ate a fam­i­ly of their own—or will the past keep them from the future they both long for?

Find the answer in best­selling author Alexa Aston’s Sec­ond Chance on the Shore, the first book in Coastal Dreams.

*Sec­ond Chance on the Shore releas­es 19 May 2026. Pre­order now from Ama­zon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G75SYJM9/

Two wound­ed souls. One coastal town. A chance to heal together.

Keaton Maxwell has sur­vived more than his share of hard­ship. After a child­hood spent in fos­ter care, he found solace in art—using paint and can­vas to express emo­tions he nev­er learned to share. When a painful betray­al shat­ters his sense of sta­bil­i­ty, Keaton leaves the moun­tains of Wyoming behind and heads to Drift­wood Bay, open­ing Gulf Coastal Gallery in search of peace and a fresh start.

Layne Larson’s life unrav­els all at once. Her com­pa­ny is sold, her long­time rela­tion­ship ends, and then she los­es her parents—leaving her griev­ing, job­less, and sud­den­ly the own­er of the Bay Breeze Inn. Return­ing to her home­town was nev­er part of the plan, but restor­ing the neglect­ed bed-and-break­fast offers Layne a way to rebuild and reclaim con­trol of her future.

When their paths cross in Drift­wood Bay, the con­nec­tion between Keaton and Layne is immediate—and unex­pect­ed. Drawn togeth­er by shared loss and qui­et under­stand­ing, they find com­fort in one anoth­er as they work side by side to bring the Bay Breeze back to life. Keaton’s steady patience and empa­thy soothe Layne’s frac­tured heart, while her strength and resilience give him hope he hasn’t felt in years.

But heal­ing isn’t lin­ear, and the shad­ows of the past don’t fade easily.

Will fear and lin­ger­ing grief pull them apart—or will Keaton and Layne find the courage to embrace the love that’s grow­ing between them and the future wait­ing just beyond the shore?

Find the answer in best­selling author Alexa Aston’s The Art of Heal­ing, the sec­ond book in Coastal Dreams.

*The Art of Heal­ing releas­es 23 June 2026. Pre­order now from Ama­zon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0GDGLQ53R

A man torn between the life he knows and the one he wants. A woman long­ing for roots. A love that demands a choice.

Archi­tect Sul­li­van Shep­herd arrives in Drift­wood Bay to over­see con­struc­tion of Tide­wa­ter, an upscale coastal resort designed by his firm. A suc­cess­ful career and a fast-paced New York life have always defined him—but some­thing about the rhythms of this Texas coastal town, and the woman who draws him in, begins to chal­lenge every­thing he thought he wanted.

After a decade tour­ing with a the­atri­cal com­pa­ny, Piper Roberts is ready to come home. She’s loved the free­dom of life on the road, but watch­ing her clos­est child­hood friends return to Drift­wood Bay and find last­ing love awak­ens a long­ing she can no longer ignore. Piper wants roots, sta­bil­i­ty, and a future she can final­ly claim as her own.

Intro­duced through mutu­al friends, Sul­li­van and Piper fall into a whirl­wind romance fueled by unde­ni­able chem­istry and shared dreams. Despite their dif­fer­ent worlds, they dis­cov­er how much they have in common—and how deeply they fit togeth­er. But as Sullivan’s time in Drift­wood Bay draws to a close, real­i­ty intrudes.

Piper knows bet­ter than to fall for a man whose life exists some­where else. And Sul­li­van must face a ques­tion he’s been avoid­ing: is suc­cess mea­sured by the life he’s built—or by the one he could choose?

Will Sul­li­van leave behind the white-col­lar world to stay in Drift­wood Bay and build some­thing last­ing, or will he walk away from the love that could change everything?

Find the answer in best­selling author Alexa Aston’s Craft­ing Love, the third book in Coastal Dreams.

*Craft­ing Love releas­es 28 July 2026. Pre­order now from Ama­zon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0GDGS4LTL

A man who’s lost him­self in work. A woman learn­ing how to heal. A love that asks them both to trust again.

Kylie May­field was once the gold­en girl of Drift­wood Bay—the first in her fam­i­ly to go to col­lege and the first to believe she’d escaped small-town lim­its. Now she’s also the first to divorce. After her hus­band aban­dons her fol­low­ing the birth of their spe­cial needs daugh­ter, Kylie is pushed to her break­ing point by dev­as­tat­ing loss. Return­ing home is not a failure—it’s sur­vival. Work­ing for her family’s char­ter busi­ness offers com­fort, sta­bil­i­ty, and a chance to begin again.

Zane Wag­n­er has sworn off love. Scarred by a brief, painful mar­riage and con­sumed by his career, he returns to Drift­wood Bay to over­see the grand open­ing of Tide­wa­ter, the newest Wag­n­er Enter­pris­es resort. Sum­mers spent here as a child once brought him joy—but adult­hood has taught him to keep his heart firm­ly guarded.

When Zane and Kylie cross paths, their attrac­tion is imme­di­ate. A busi­ness arrange­ment to trans­port Tide­wa­ter guests soon turns into some­thing more com­pli­cat­ed. Zane pro­pos­es a tem­po­rary, no-strings affair dur­ing his time in Texas—and to her own sur­prise, Kylie agrees. What begins as uncom­pli­cat­ed pas­sion slow­ly becomes some­thing deep­er, as Zane chips away at Kylie’s care­ful­ly built defens­es and helps her redis­cov­er con­fi­dence, laugh­ter, and hope.

But when Zane makes it clear he plans to return to New York alone, old wounds reopen.

As Zane’s own walls begin to crum­ble, he’s forced to con­front a truth he’s long avoid­ed: some risks are worth tak­ing. But trust doesn’t come eas­i­ly to hearts that have already been broken.

Will fear and past pain wash away their chance at last­ing happiness—or will Zane and Kylie find the courage to trust in love one final time?

Find the answer in best­selling author Alexa Aston’s Tides of Trust, the final book in Coastal Dreams.

*Tides of Trust releas­es 18 August 2026. Pre­order now from Ama­zon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0GDGMH9RJ