Rise

Hazel Simmons wasn’t supposed to stay.

Not in Bar Harbor. Not in the house that holds every painful echo of her childhood. And certainly not in the half-renovated bakery her grandmother secretly built for her- a dream Hazel once whispered aloud, then buried long ago.

But after burning out in a high-end Boston kitchen and losing the one person who truly knew her, Hazel returns home to settle the estate… only to discover her grandmother’s final wish: that she slow down, start over, and maybe finally choose herself.

As flour-dusted mornings stretch into quiet seasons, Hazel begins to rebuild a life in the coastal town that raised her. There are familiar faces, unexpected friendships, and one man she can’t seem to stop noticing: Beck, a gruff lighthouse caretaker with a wounded past and a gaze that sees more than he says. He’s the kind of man who shows up without asking- and stays.

But as grief lingers and old wounds resurface, Hazel must decide what she’s truly willing to risk: the safety of solitude, or a love that just might be exactly what she’s been waiting for.

Set across three seasons in a seaside town full of heart, Rise is a moving debut about second chances, the strength of community, and the kind of love that feels like coming home.