In Kerri Carpenter’s ‘Come What Maybe,’ Going Home Is Only the Beginning [REVIEW]

It is difficult to keep secrets in small towns—especially a great big juicy one! But that’s exactly what one woman strives to do when she returns home to visit her family. As she goes to great lengths to keep her personal information private, her high school nemesis refuses to keep his distance. Will his presence help or hinder her plan? Find out in Kerri Carpenter’s Come What Maybe.

In this first installment of the new Seaside Cove series, social media strategist Lauren Wallace puts her life on hold and returns to Maine to check up on her youngest sister, Gabby, a remarkable but down-on-her-luck actress who has been evicted from her New York City home.

While in town, Lauren stays with Grams, a “stubborn, outspoken, strong-willed” woman who is as cantankerous as she is beloved. Always “completely capable of taking care of herself,” she’s the one who has always looked after Lauren and her sisters. But this visit will give Lauren the opportunity to make sure she is really okay.

As she strives to reconnect with both women, Lauren has the sneaking suspicion that everything is not as it appears. Thus, she settles in with the hopes both women will open up before too long.

Meanwhile, Lauren’s middle sister, Brooke, has also returned to town, an event which gives the sisters a chance to commiserate and catch up on one another’s lives. Gabby and Lauren are surprised to discover just what kind of man Brooke’s fiancé, Lucas, truly is: one who is demanding, critical, and controlling. Initially, they try to merely be sympathetic, but eventually their true feelings bubble to the surface in ways that are all too familiar for those of us with siblings.

But Lucas isn’t the only man gumming up the sister’s lives. There’s also handsome bar owner Ethan McAllister, a man who was once Lauren’s former high school nemesis. Now, however, she sees him through a different lens, and she must figure out whether he has a long-term place in her life—and dodge Grams’ watchful gaze in the process.

The longer Lauren stays in Seaside Cove and spends time with Ethan and her family, she comes to understand her parents’ own complicated past. But will hindsight ultimately grant her permission to fall in love?

Carpenter populates the quaint, charming community of Seaside Cove with residents who are realistic—if a tad too nosey for Lauren’s liking—and portrays a town that is close-knit and compassionate, filled with genuine and sincere people we’d all love to know. The result is a book that is by tender, thoughtful, funny, and authentic. If you love small town romances with lots of heart, you won’t want to miss Carpenter’s Come What Maybe.