Gwen Gilmore has had a terrible year - she lost her mother, her teaching job, and was dumped by her boyfriend. Adrift and out of options, she packs everything she owns & heads to the only place she can think of going: her family’s aging cottage on the Maine coast, Periwinkle, which she’s recently inherited. Periwinkle is not only home to ghosts of her past—boyfriends, forgotten creative dreams, and painful memories of a sister lost too young, but also some more literal ghosts: The Misses are friendly spirits who have long watched over the cottage, but who now seem strangely unsettled, slamming doors and moving furniture in the night. With the cottage needing serious repairs before winter sets in, a developer intent on purchasing it to make space for garish condos, a missing teen hiding out in the woods outside Periwinkle, sparks flying with a local Argentinian artist named Leandro, and a job offer falling through, this is definitely going to be transformative for Gwen.

This book started as a bit of a slow burn, but once I got into the story, I really enoyed it. This book was about chosen family versus biological family, as well as a bit of a ghost story. There wasn't a lot of character development, so I had a hard time picturing some of the characters.. I loved the way everything wrapped up. This is perfect for fans of Catherine Newman's novel Sandwich and The God Of the Woods by Liz Moore.

Port Anna is a beautifully atmospheric debut with charming supernatural elements and coastal charm. However, its emotional impact is muted by an ensemble-driven plot and underexplored character transformations. A good pick for mood-driven reads—but those seeking deeper connection might feel it skimmed the surface.

Gwen Gilmore has lost her boyfriend, mother, and job, when she comes home to stay at her family’s cottage on the Maine coast. The cottage and town haven’t changed much, but it brings many memories back from Gwen.

This is a quiet novel that brings the Maine and small town atmosphere to life. I loved the different characters from the town that we get to know. There are a lot of sub plots going on but it does not get confusing. The writing style is well done and it’s hard to believe it’s a debut.

Port Anna comes out 7/1.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster for my copy of Port Anna which comes out on Tuesday - July 1st. This debut novel is set in a wonderful coastal Maine town and is a book about second chances and hope and revisiting our past.

I enjoyed reading this novel and seeing Gwen try to put her life back together as she went back to the Maine coast to her family's cottage she hasn't been to since her younger sister died. She's at crossroads and wants to start again. While things have remained the same she's seeing the changes to the town with new condos and development.

While this was a little more on the character-driven side I liked seeing Gwen reconnect with her past as she thinks about her future. I loved the descriptions of the town and I think a lot of people can relate to the changing of the small town.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the eARC.

Port Anna was an easy read, but was not one I'd typically gravitate to. I was certainly rooting for our girl Gwen and hoping she got her happy ending, but to be honest the story just wasn't all that compelling and took me awhile to get through.

“Welcome to Maine, the Way Life Should Be.”

My New England heart fell hard for the fictional town of Port Anna, Maine. It’s hard to believe this is Libby Buck’s debut novel. Her writing was so easy to get lost in; vivid descriptions and beautiful story telling that left me unable to put the book down.

🤍Found Family
🤍Grief + Healing
🤍Second Chance Romance
🤍Small Town

Gwen Gilmore returns to her childhood home in Maine, Periwinkle Cottage, after fleeing a life in North Carolina. After initially seeking distance from the cottage and the small town that harbors much grief and loss, Gwen returns home and finds herself rediscovering life after loss; the loss of life, love, friendship, and possibly her home.

“Granite crumbled. Foundations failed. Grief morphed and changed shape. And sometimes, the most broken of hearts could be repaired.”

I wasn’t sure what to expect beyond the book synopsis. I was certainly surprised to find the supernatural aspects, but ended up falling in love with “The Misses”. I really enjoyed the LGBTQ+ representation throughout the novel. All of the characters, except one, were so lovable, they truly felt like Gwen’s found family.
I enjoyed Buck’s historical references and appreciated her citing the work that inspired the cottage, Anna, and the non-fiction pieces Gwen was working on.

Thank you Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of Port Anna

I was hoping this would have been a bit cheerier but it was pretty depressing. Perhaps it was realistic but I found it to be pretty miserable. There were so many bad decisions and issues that it made me really sad. The writing was good and the setting was almost there but it was just so sad that it was hard to enjoy. I was unhappy reading this but I hope you have better luck!

Port Anna comes out next week on July 1, 2025, and you can purchase HERE.
GWEN DID NOT WAKE WHEN THE LOBSTER BOATS ENTERED the cove at dawn, engines thrumming and radios blaring classic rock. Above the din, the helmsmen yelled at their crew, and still she remained dreamless in the creaky old house, cocooned in yellowed linen. She didn't note the rising sun, either, a sliver of light that, just after six, edged past the partially closed blind toward her exposed foot. The warmth crept up her calf, with designs on her thigh, its progress arrested only by a faded curtain. She snored softly on, her hands clasped between her knees, forehead puckered in concentration.
At seven, the kitchen door opened. "Hallooo?" a voice said.
Gwen shivered, and her eyes fluttered open at last. A veined ceiling came into focus, the knots in the wood darkened with age. A beat passed before she remembered crossing the state line just after midnight. Welcome to Maine, the Way Life Should Be.

I am firmly in my women’s fiction era, and Port Anna perfectly lands as a summer-must read for those who enjoy heartfelt and atmospheric novels about second chances, uncovering hidden truths, and the possibility of healing in the most unexpected places.

Gwen has lost her mother, her career, and her relationship. She loads her car and journeys north to her childhood home in the sleepy town of Port Anna Maine. The cottage, Periwinkle, has been abandoned for decades, and is filled with more than just memories of Gwen’s childhood—it’s home to unsettling spirits, creeping changes in the town, and an unresolved mystery that threatens to disrupt everything. As Gwen reconnects with the town’s residents, she works through her grief while entertaining new beginnings for her career and love life. She also finds herself intertwined in a local teen’s disappearance and local realtor’s encroachment onto her cottage’s property.

This was the perfect beach read! The fog-filled coastal town, quirky secondary characters, and Gwen’s character growth had me flipping pages late into the evening. Readers who enjoy books with a delicate balance of romance, mystery, and personal transformation need to add Port Anna to their radars!

This book took me on a journey I wasn’t expecting—emotionally, structurally, and tonally. I don’t often feel this much fluctuation while reading: there were stretches I couldn’t put it down and thought it might be a five-star favorite, and others where I seriously considered DNFing.

At its heart, Port Anna is about reclaiming your narrative after grief, guilt, and other people’s expectations have shaped your life for too long. It’s about how you stop being a ghost in your own story—and instead say, This is mine now. I get to tell it, live it, shape it.

I really loved Gwen’s arc of rediscovery, and the quiet moments between her and Leandro—especially the way he saw her, not just as broken or sad, but whole and worth loving.

That said, the pacing and tonal shifts were uneven and it felt like this book was trying to do too many things. Some scenes felt deeply grounded and emotional, while others went off the rails. I wish we’d gotten more of Gwen and Leandro together rather than just orbiting each other for most of the novel. And I’m still not sure how I feel about how the grief plot was resolved—there’s a part of me that wishes some things had remained off-page.

Still, Port Anna had a lot to say about healing, creative expression, and found family. It reminded me that even in the middle of a messy, painful, uncertain life, there are still small gifts: banana bread from a friend, a hand at your spine, the sound of waves, a story you get to tell.

Thank you Simon & Schuster for the gifted book.

Gwen Gilmore is moving from North Carolina to the small town of Periwinkle, Maine. This is the family home, and she is the last survivor. She lost her job at the university, her mother has died and her boyfriend has dumped her.
She has been back to Maine in years and find the small cottage in need of lots of repairs. She reconnects with friends from her youth during the summer and finds that all of them have undergone lots of changes.
She is hoping to work for the school system come fall and maybe find some peace in her life. The cottage has been in the family for years and has two ghost that inhabit the upstairs. As Gwen is trying to find her way again, she has to deal with her little sister that died way to young and the girl she keeps seeing outside. It seems that this teenage girl that has gone missing is living in the woods next to the cottage and Gwen is trying to help her.
As her money is running out, she is trying to figure out to survive herself.
This is a first-time author and I really enjoyed reading this book.

This felt so raw and real While I usually prefer a fluffy romance in the summer, this honest and raw and real story had me hooked from the very beginning!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. I fell in love with this book. The setting is beautifully described and I felt if I was actually there myself. Gwen was a very likeable character and I really got to know her. She was very relatable as was a lot of themes in the book. I was caught up in this book and could barely take a break. I felt the feelings she felt and that was because of how well developed her character was by the author. I felt eager to see if she’d make decisions I was hoping she would. A really great summer read.

4+

“The living wade through the vast remains of those long gone, the dregs of things worn or eaten or used or held, and so it stood to reason that vestiges remained.”

I’m drawn to Maine stories, but not just ones highlighting gin martinis, cotton sweaters and afternoon sailing. This eloquent, lyrical debut by a local author has the heart and authenticity reserved for those who seek a fictional account of the unvarnished version of life here.

Gwen Gilmore flees her Carolina life which has unraveled in just about every way and returns to Port Anna and her ancestral cottage Periwinkle. Much has changed on the peninsula but the constant remains of how her adult life continues to be informed by the place and people she loves. As the summer residents head south, she grapples with a depleted bank account, a frigid and dilapidated property and locals whose motivation is in question. When a runaway teen crosses her path Gwen’s convictions become clear yet the roadblocks are still mounting.

Two original cottage owners, “The Misses”, make their ethereal presence known, but these ghosts are not the only memories haunting Gwen. In addition to these spirits, a lighthouse legend and multiple creatures along the shoreline add a dash of magical realism to the narrative. Themes of grief and nostalgia and hope grace every page; readers will be treated to the mysteries of the environment, and the complexities of the people who live there. I loved the focus on the challenges and changes of the seasons and the Maine coastline itself, and feel the novel truly honors a place I call home.

Especially for those who enjoyed Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Dark.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster Publishing and Net Galley for the early copy in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up. Slow paced and lost interest at times. General overview is it’s a story about Gwen, who moves back to her family cottage on the Maine coast. The cottage is haunted and so are her memories. She makes new friends and reunites with old friends and they help her get through tough times.

I thought this was a really good book. It’s very descriptive, it will make you feel the cold. At times I did think it moved a little slow. I liked that the characters all rallied around Gwen in her time of need. It did feel a little predictable but I did still enjoyed it.

I loved this character driven, debut novel by Libby Buck. It reads as an authentic story of life, as Buck explores the past of Gwen’s life and how it has impacted her ‘now.’ It’s not easy to come home, especially when life hasn’t been sweet, but Gwen has more on her plate than most. An ancestral home with a few snarky ghosts, a previous boyfriend whose husband now becomes a friend as well, a passionate handsome artist in town, a slimy real estate developer, and Gwen’s own search for answers to her sister’s death. I was completely engrossed with this book, unable to put it down. Fabulous beginning for a new author - I can’t wait to see what she writes next!

This debut novel takes us to Port Anna in Maine(fictional location) where Gwen Gilmore has returned to her family’s cottage, Periwinkle. Gwen is struggling to make ends meet and her family cottage is haunted by two ghosts who she calls the misses. She falls back into the support of her high school friends who had grown and changed, some not for the better, at the same time she is trying to support someone else who needs her help. There were touches of romance, magical realism, sadness, and betrayal in this moody story that really touched on so many heavy topics.

4.5/5

Gwen is dealing with the loss of her mother, her job and her long term almost fiancée. Feeling adrift she returns to the Maine summer cottage she recently inherited. Not all happy memories are here as her younger sister drowned here one summer, but Gwen has no where else to go.
I thought this was going to be a mystery, but it seemed more like a series of happenings all parceled into one book. I would have liked if one or two of the story lines would have been chosen and written in more detail. There were just too many plots to follow. The book was okay…just not great. This review is my opinion only. 3.5 Stars
Thank you Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for the early copy.

3.5 stars

I was intrigued by the premise of this book and really wanted to love it. While there is plenty that is enjoyable, I found it to have quite a crowded plot with so much going on that it was a distraction. I did enjoy the setting and overall found it to be an entertaining read though not a favorite.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Port Anna is a moody, atmospheric novel that blends grief, small-town nostalgia, light romance, and a dash of ghostly charm into a heartfelt story of starting over when everything feels lost. Gwen’s return to her family cottage in coastal Maine is filled with the kind of emotional heaviness you’d expect after a string of personal disasters — but the story doesn’t wallow. It unfolds gently, balancing sadness with sparks of hope and moments of genuine beauty.

The setting is a standout here. Libby Buck paints the town of Port Anna and the beloved (if crumbling) cottage with such detail that you can almost smell the salty air and hear the floorboards creak under ghostly footsteps. The Misses — the friendly spirits haunting Gwen’s home — add a whimsical, otherworldly layer that I honestly wish had been explored just a bit more. There’s also a lot happening plot-wise: grief, romance, a missing girl, gentrification, and a haunted house. At times it felt a bit crowded, and I occasionally found myself wanting the story to dig deeper rather than wider.

Still, Gwen is a relatable character, and her slow rediscovery of joy, love, and purpose made the journey worthwhile. The romance with Leandro was charming (even if a little underdeveloped), and I appreciated how the book captured the feeling of being caught between letting go of the past and stepping into the unknown.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. This is a lovely read for fans of character-driven fiction with a hint of the supernatural — especially those who enjoy a quiet, introspective coastal setting.