Four jackets of varying weights, enough socks for the entire Confederate Army, three umbrellas, most of the antacid aisle from the local pharmacy, and six pairs of old people sneakers that all look exactly the same. Have you ever helped your parents pack for a weeklong cruise? No? I didn't think so. So shut it. So begins vacation for Summer Hartwell - twenty-six years old, living with her anxiety-ridden parents, and unwillingly booked by her brother on a weeklong cruise to Bermuda. Despite the nightmare of being trapped aboard a cruise ship with Mom and Dad, Summer sees a rare opportunity to fulfill The Prophecy – her mother’s declaration that she will live at home until she gets married. With two thousand passengers onboard, at least one of them must be husband material, right? The only problem is Graham Blenderman – her brother’s best friend who is joining them for the week, in all of his tall, blonde, extroverted glory. Graham doesn’t believe Summer needs a husband in order to break free from her parents. He thinks she just needs a little bit of nerve. And to Summer’s introverted horror, he’s willing to spend the entire week proving that he’s right.

\\\The long-awaited sequel to Beth Labonte’s novel - Summer at Sea!\\\ “Mom! Dad! They’re here!” yells Graham, in a voice loud enough to wake all the residents of Sunset Havens who have died over the past fifty years. Now John and Babette are running down the driveway and everybody is hugging and shaking hands and The Duffle is being unloaded from the trunk like a coffin from a hearse, and it’s all really happening now. I take a deep breath and watch everybody file into the house from the safety of the driveway. The front door shuts with a satisfying thud. I stand there alone for a good minute and a half, relishing the fact that they are all in there and I am alone out here. Maybe I should make a run for it. I could steal a golf cart and be at the airport in, like, three days. For Summer Hartwell, holding her and Graham’s wedding a thousand miles from home seemed like a good idea. Even if it is at a retirement community. How else could she avoid planning the wedding with her neurotic, anxiety-ridden mother? But with one week left to go and Summer’s parents arriving on the scene, things begin to quickly unravel. Between the swingers parties, the Viagra jokes, and the copious amount of alcohol, Summer’s not so sure her parents will make it out of there alive. Then there’s the matter of Graham being Grade A top choice meat to every woman over sixty-five, a few of whom Summer suspects of trying to sabotage the wedding! Can Summer and Graham hold things together long enough to make it down the aisle?

It’s bittersweet, knowing this is the last time it will be just the two of us living in this house. We’re bringing a whole new life into the world! Someone who’s going to have Joan and Richard Hartwell for grandparents, and an Uncle Eric, and a Great Uncle Chuck. Someone whose dad invented an iPhone app that farts. Someone who’s going to spend a good portion of their summer vacations at a place called Sunset Havens. Note to self: Apologize to baby. Falling in love with her brother’s best friend...getting married at a retirement community...who would have thought that having a baby would be Summer’s biggest adventure yet? In this final installment of The Summer Series, follow Summer and Graham from the arduous task of trying to conceive, to the joyous arrival of their bouncing baby Blenderman. Between the self-doubt, the judgmental women of the Internet, and the anxious eyes of Mom and Dad—which have kicked into overdrive ever since the big announcement—Summer and Graham are in for a long nine months. This is a novella of approximately 20,000 words.