Fans of Sherryl Woods are just going to love this new series that revolves around the Castle family. This is the first of the series which promises to be a winner.

Welcome to Sand Castle Bay and the Castle family who run a family restaurant in this little town. Cora Jane Castle is the grandmother and matriarch of this family. Her son is a brilliant scientist but it's in the personality department he is lacking, sure he loves his family but Sam has no idea how to show that. But not to worry Cora Jane has always made sure her three granddaughters had an abundance of love. Spending summers at the point certainly grounded the three very different sisters. And no matter how successful their careers this was home.

So with the weather forecasting a major hurricane aimed directly at the North Carolina coast all three Castle sisters were making their way home to their grandmother. None had any intention of staying and taking over their grandmother's restaurant but not a one of them would hesitate dropping everything to help her out. Luckily the storms damage turned out to be manageable. But being home brings some unexpected challenges at least for Emily.

Emily left ten years ago to fulfill her dream of becoming an interior designer and found success working with many celebrities over the years. Her home base was Los Angeles but her job took her all over. Never one to turn down a lucrative assignment her career had become her life. She even questioned whether she could count any of her clients as friends. But that didn't seem too important as her business was growing and exceeding her expectations. Her personal life would just have to take a back seat.

When Emily left she severed ties with everyone except her family and hadn't returned to the bay in years. So she had no way of knowing how the love of her life, Boone, was faring except that he had married rather quickly after she left and had a son. In her heart she felt some anger toward Boone in that if he really loved her, as he had professed, he would have waited for her. But intellectually Emily realized she had been the one to close the door on their relationship without taking a single look back. Well at least that's the way it appeared. In truth, Boone was still the one but that was history.

For Boone Emily was history. He had made a life with an adoring woman and had a son B.J. that was the center of his life. Even more so since the death of his wife a year ago. Both father and son were working hard to move forward and with the help of his friends they were both doing okay. Boone thanked goodness everyday for the support and caring he and B.J. received from Cora Jane Castle who treated them as extensions of her own family. With the arrival of the three sisters, recovering from the storm damage and carrying on daily activities Boone was uncertain in how Emily's return would impact his relationship with the Castle family.

He was intent on maintaining his distance but if need be convince everyone that he and Emily could be just friends. Too much water under the bridge for there to be anything else between them. Not to mention they basically lived on opposite coasts. Boone was also guarded in pursuing any relationship that would cause harm to his son. Both Dorsett men were somewhat fragile. Unfortunately Emily was quickly finding a place in their world.

Okay so I will admit to reading the first two books in this new series out of order, but guess what -- no big deal. Woods has introduced us to a wonderfully diverse family who are grounded by mutual respect and love. Developing strong, intelligent characters and providing them with witty and warm dialog is a Woods trait common in all her books. This is no exception. She so smartly gets her reader vested in her characters so that it goes without saying we look forward to the next installment. The world is a big place but Woods teaches us that love has a way of reducing distances.