One Summer Night

August 21, 2017
In a passionate modern Romeo and Juliet–inspired story (with a much happier ending) that opens a contemporary romance series, Pineiro (Under the Boardwalk) develops the forbidden love between sensitive, spunky retail heiress Maggie Sinclair and stoic real estate scion Owen Pierce. Three decades earlier, Maggie and Owen’s fathers, formerly best friends and business partners, had an ugly fight, supposedly over real estate. They bequeathed that animosity to their children. Inconveniently, Owen and Maggie have been attracted to each other since they were young, and chemistry arcs between the two when they reconnect at their families’ side-by-side beach houses in Sea Kiss, N.J. Owen’s bitter father threatens to disinherit Owen if he dates Maggie, so Owen comes up with a desperate plan: he pretends that he’s only marrying Maggie to gain control of her faltering retail chain. A cast of lovely, imperfect supporting characters—including Owen’s entrepreneurial younger brother, Jonathan; Maggie’s friend Emma, a wedding planner avoiding love; and her friend Connie, a workaholic lawyer gunning for partner—neatly surrounds this endearing hero and heroine as Owen’s father attempts to derail their love story forever. Readers will want to visit the charming town of Sea Kiss again and again.

September 1, 2017
Trying to save her family's iconic New York department store, Maggie Sinclair doesn't have time for a love life, especially with Owen Pierce, the son of her father's archenemy, who's the boy she kissed years ago on one dreamy summer night at the Jersey Shore."The two beachfront mansions had been built side by side decades earlier, before the start of the Pierce and Sinclair rift." Maggie and Owen had been childhood friends, summering together at the shore before their families had a falling-out, Owen's mother left, and Maggie's mother died. One "ill-timed and half-drunk" teenage kiss had fueled her fascination with him, and years of crossing paths both professionally and personally never let it quite die, but Maggie has avoided relationships, too busy trying to save her family's retail company and perhaps too reluctant to admit to herself that no one attracts her quite like Owen. After a few random meetings amplify the sexual and emotional tension between them, they step more and more into a relationship, documented by the intrigued local gossip pages. Owen appeases his angry father by claiming he's doing it to get Maggie to trust him, with the ultimate goal of taking over the real estate once her stores have failed. As the two grow closer and the stakes get more intense, past distrust and current misperceptions collide to create an explosive situation. Trust and love may save the day, but getting there is a hard sell when Owen's father is determined to drive a wedge between the lovers and take everything Maggie holds dear. Pineiro begins a new beach-themed series with a bright combination of an enemies-to-lovers trope with a second-chance-at-love twist. Secondary characters enhance the plot and setting while hinting at the next two stories in the series. A sexy, fun, yet touching summer read.

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September 15, 2017
Although the two families owned next-door beach houses on the Jersey shore, Owen Pierce's father didn't want his family to be friendly with the Sinclairs. Maggie Sinclair never forgot the kiss she shared with Owen when she was 18, and her attraction to him returns to distract her as she is trying to save her family's struggling stores. Maggie is running out of options after mortgaging the beach house and her own home and agrees to marry Owen so he can help the company. When Maggie learns that her father-in-law assumes that the marriage grants him access to the Sinclair properties, she is determined to forget her newfound happiness with her husband. Will Owen finally stand up to his father? Modern marriage of convenience stories are tricky, but Pineiro delivers rich emotions, strong lead characters, and interesting business insights.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)