Rise

<p><strong>Hazel Simmons wasn't supposed to stay.</strong></p><p></p><p>Not in Bar Harbor. Not in the house that holds every painful echo of her childhood. And certainly not in the half-renovated bakery her grandmother secretly built for her- a dream Hazel once whispered aloud then buried long ago.</p><p></p><p>But after burning out in a high-end Boston kitchen and losing the one person who truly knew her Hazel returns home to settle the estate... only to discover her grandmother's final wish: that she slow down start over and maybe <em>finally </em>choose herself.</p><p></p><p>As flour-dusted mornings stretch into quiet seasons Hazel begins to rebuild a life in the coastal town that raised her. There are familiar faces unexpected friendships and one man she can't seem to stop noticing: Beck a gruff lighthouse caretaker with a wounded past and a gaze that sees more than he says. He's the kind of man who shows up without asking- and stays.</p><p></p><p>But as grief lingers and old wounds resurface Hazel must decide what she's truly willing to risk: the safety of solitude or a love that just might be exactly what she's been waiting for.</p><p></p><p><strong>Set across three seasons in a seaside town full of heart <em>Rise</em> is a moving debut about second chances the strength of community and the kind of love that feels like coming home.</strong></p>