Signing Off for the Summer is a new adult romance novel about an overwhelmed radio journalist who withdraws from her toxic workplace, a bad relationship, and city life and escapes to her family’s cottage for the summer where she rediscovers her own voice and the magic of falling in love.
When Maggie Taylor, an up-and-coming journalist, suddenly quits a prestigious radio internship at 880 News in Toronto, she infuriates her close-knit family. Unbeknownst to her overbearing parents and controlling boyfriend, Maggie suffered a traumatic abuse of power when her boss propositioned her, and she is too ashamed to talk about it. She escapes to her grandmother’s cottage on Cedar Lake for the summer. There she finds solace and healing and begins to develop a close friendship with her cottage neighbour, Thomas. Everything takes a turn for the worse when Maggie’s aunt shows up with surprising news. More trouble follows when her former boss makes an unexpected return to her life, threatening everything Maggie has built with Thomas. In order to move forward, Maggie must face her past and learn to use her voice.
Excerpt:
Maggie turned off the water and wrapped herself in an old beach towel. There was something about Thomas that her heart was drawn to, but she refused to think of him as anything more than a friend. Maggie used a wide-tooth comb to brush out her long, brown hair. She spritzed a detangling spray through her wet locks, which helped achieve chunky beach waves. She opened her makeup bag and grabbed her mascara. Starting at the roots of her eyelashes, Maggie wiggled the wand and swept through the tips. She applied a coat of high-shine lip gloss that made her lips appear full and plump. Pleased with what she saw in the mirror, Maggie adjusted the faded and frayed towel wrapped under her arms and headed for her bedroom to get dressed. As she walked out of the bathroom, she passed the front door and saw a strange figure lurking there. Maggie shrieked, bringing her hands to her mouth. Her towel dropped to her feet. It took her a second to realize that the creep staring at her through the window of the front door was Thomas. And there she was, giving him a free show.
Thomas brought his hand to his brow and adverted his eyes. “I’m sorry! I—uh—”
“What are you doing here?” Maggie yelled. She picked up her towel and haphazardly wrapped it around her naked body.
“I, uh… You told me to come over to help you fix your deck.”
Maggie caught a glimpse of the clock in the kitchen. Thomas was five minutes early. “Yes, of course. I just wasn’t expecting you yet. Um, why don’t you head around back, and I’ll be out in just a minute.”
Still covering his eyes like a gentleman, Thomas tripped over a broken board on the deck as he made his way to the back with his tools and supplies. “I’ll fix that one, too!” he called out.
Maggie broke into a smile as she watched him stumble his way around to the back deck. Through the sliding glass door, Maggie looked on as Thomas organized his tools. When he lifted his head, she averted her eyes and rushed to her bedroom to change into a white, knee-length, cotton summer dress. As Thomas hammered outside, Maggie went to the kitchen and whipped up a charcuterie board with cheese, crackers, and grapes. She grabbed the chilled bottle of champagne from the fridge and went to the sliding glass door. When Thomas saw her standing there with her hands full, he got up and opened the door for her.
“Your deck is as good as new,” he said, pointing to the replaced board. “I’ll show you how to fix the one out front.”
Maggie placed the food down on the picnic table. “I really appreciate your help,” she said, handing Thomas the bottle of champagne. “Will you do the honors?”
Maggie quickly ran back inside to retrieve a cloth napkin and champagne flutes. When she couldn’t find any, she grabbed a dish towel and a couple of mason jars instead.
Thomas removed the foil from the bottle to expose the cork and the cage. He untwisted the cage counterclockwise and then used the dishtowel to gently pull the cork away from the bottle. When she heard the sound of the cork popping, Maggie clapped her hands in glee.
“To new beginnings!” Thomas said as he handed Maggie a glass.
She smiled, clinking her mason jar against his. The sparkling bubbles exploded in her mouth, releasing pleasing flavors of peach and vanilla.
“You sprang for the good stuff,” Thomas said, relaxing into a lounge chair that overlooked the lake.
Maggie sat down on the bench of the picnic table. “My grandma says champagne is the only wine that leaves a woman beautiful after drinking it.”
Thomas stole a glance at Maggie, his eyes soft with admiration. “You’d look beautiful no matter what you were drink—”
“Shit!” Maggie said as champagne dribbled down her chin and onto her clean summer dress. Heat rose to her cheeks as she remembered all the times Brody got angry with her for spilling things accidentally. “I’m sorry.”
Thomas grabbed the dish towel wrapped around the neck of the champagne bottle and handed it to Maggie. “What are you apologizing for?”
“Thank you,” she said, ignoring his question. She dabbed at the wet spot against her chest. “I can be so clumsy. You were saying something?”
Thomas coughed. “Oh, uh, it was nothing.” He relaxed back into his chair and stared straight ahead.
The sun was beginning to set. A glowing circle in a grapefruit-pink sky, illuminating a quivering path across the lake. The view from the deck was stunning. Maggie took a moment to soak up her surroundings. She still couldn’t believe she was going to spend her entire summer at the cottage. It was almost too good to be true.
Ever had a toxic life? This is Tommy and Maggie's story. She runs from her former life that is very toxic including work. When she goes to her grandmothers cottage she meets Tommy, but can she be open with him. Can Tommy's get past his past? Follow them as they learn to trust and open up.
This is such a touching story about Maggie and Thomas. It’s a coming of age story about overcoming, persevering, finding courage, strength and your voice. I enjoyed every bit of the story and love the main characters.
Signing Off for the Summer is a good, and enjoyable sweet small town romance read. The story has a good entertaining world building story line. The characters are good, wonderful character development, and they have good chemistry. This story is an entertaining read with a happily ever after ending.
Signing Off for the Summer is suspenseful and a page turning romance. The story is beautifully written, well balanced and phenomenally executed by Alyssa Delle Palme. This is my first book I’ve read by this author and was captivated by the storyline. The story is captivating from start to finish, entertaining and an enjoyable read. This novel has a fantastic plot, amazing characters and a breathtaking ending for the main characters. The characters are fantastically written and beautifully executed throughout the story. The main characters of this story are Maggie and Thomas. The chemistry between the main characters is absolutely breathtaking and undeniably irresistible. I adored getting to know both Maggie and Thomas as well as witnessing their story come to life through the pages of this book. I couldn’t get enough of their story and was slightly saddened when it came to an end because I didn’t want it to end. I would absolutely give this book as a recommendation for anyone to checkout and give it a read. I’m looking forward to checking out more of this author’s work in the future.
I really enjoyed this book. This writer knows how to write an engaging story and how to make the character chemistry real and believable. I really enjoyed this book.
Wow - I really felt for Maggie - the opening chapter was brutal and I really did not like her family, didn’t like her co-workers and especially thought that she deserved way better than she got.er grandma is the best - supportive and just happy to be present. The friendship between her and Thomas was formed beautifully, and along the way, we were given sneaky insights into how toxic her current relationship is. It’s a pity that she was so indecisive that honesty and openness was just a little too late to prevent damage from occurring. There were some very comedic moments, vengeful exes, horrible bosses and some questionable decision making. There was a lot going on, but overall it was a heartwarming, sweet, yet chaotic story with a cute little HEA.
Alyssa Delle Palme is a new author for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading Signing Off for the Summer. I had to keep reminding myself that the two love birds in the story, Thomas and Maggie, are young. Their reactions to things that occurred and their communication, or lack there of tended to be more reactive than trusting. Then again, Katie's relationship with Stuart showed that communication can be an issue in any relationship at any age. It was wonderful to see Thomas and Maggie blossom as individuals and eventually as a couple. Maggie found her voice in more than one way, and Thomas was on the road to overcoming childhood trauma. Katie came into her own voice too and was able to deal with her past with fantastic outcomes. The flow of the storyline was a too slow in parts and there were some obvious and predictable moments that the characters should have seen coming, which means those sections perhaps could have been dealt with differently. That is why it did not garner five stars. Otherwise, this was an entertaining book with drama, romance, steaminess, and a great trek through some beautiful countryside.
The one thing that struck me the most about this book was the story was believable. I could see this storyline happening in real life. I especially loved that the setting was in Canada. I live near London, Ontario so it was very relatable to me. Thomas and Maggie were sweet together but also their chemistry was off the charts. The spicy scenes were very good but not over the top. The author definitely knows how to write romance. I gave this book 4 stars. I would have made it 5 but to me there was too much description about things that the reader does not care to read about. Descriptions about every outfit Maggie wears. The colour of the andirondak chairs etc…. I appreciate the author trying to paint us a word picture but it just comes across as info I don’t care about. More dialogue with the characters would have been nice. I would read another book by this author.
If your childhood summers were spent at the cottage and it’s still your favourite place in the world, this book is for you. Signing Off For the Summer is a sweet love story that tackles some serious issues and will leave you wanting more. If you are a Carley Fortune fan, you are sure to enjoy this story. The main character, Maggie, is so believable. She is kind and likable, flawed yet strong. For me the book was a real page turner, and I was surprised by the little twists throughout. I will definitely be recommending it to my friends and book club ladies. I just read that this book has made some of Amazon’s Best lists and I’m not one bit surprised.
