The Last Ember

Maren Castellano has spent years building a life far from the salt-streaked windows and whispered history of her coastal hometown. But when her sister Lila calls with news that the decommissioned lighthouse their late father devoted his life to is about to be sold to developers led by Mayor Henley, Maren finds herself climbing an aluminum ladder again, brush in hand, racing to restore what the Castellano family has already lost too much of. Returning means facing Tomás, the brother who stayed behind to hold the family together. It means reckoning with Mae Beckett, the friend who knows too much, and Sam Ibarra, whose quiet loyalty carries its own weight. Most of all, it means standing across from Declan Ashford, the man she once loved, the man whose sister Nora has carried a silence for years, the man whose family name is tangled with hers in ways neither town has ever fully forgiven. As restoration uncovers hidden rooms in the keeper's quarters and old letters between the Castellanos and the Ashfords, a secret resurfaces that could shatter what's left of both families. Cass Ashford has his own reasons for wanting the lighthouse preserved, and not all of them are noble. With the deadline closing in and the town watching, Maren must decide whether the last ember of her father's legacy is worth burning for, and whether loving Declan again means losing everything she just came home to save.