Prequel to the Island Series. The one that got away.

Meg’s heard the expression before, but now she truly understands it.

She wishes she didn’t.

Because the one that got away was the horse that tugged at Meg’s heartstrings.

Meg’s going to need the help of best friend, Slate, and brother, Cam, to make sure she doesn’t miss out on her next heart-horse, and to set her up for her first fateful appaloosa summer on the island.

Finally. Meg and Jared’s simple-and-perfect island wedding is about to take place … even if Meg’s mom would prefer something a little less simple, and a little less island.

Lacey’s on her way home and Slate’s coming to the island to perform bridesmaid duties with Austen.

The village hall is booked, Betsy’s on pie duty, and the islanders are ready to celebrate with Meg and Jared.

Until weather warnings go off at the same time as a tornado touches down.

With roofs blown off, barns collapsed, and cars flipped Meg knows the focus needs to switch from wedding celebrations to disaster recovery.

But do the islanders agree with her?

Giving up her pony didn’t make Austen’s sister better. Sacrificing her social life hasn’t done it either. But with her sister’s life at stake, Austen’s never good at saying no. So, when their mom decides a move to the island is just what Eliot needs, Austen says goodbye to her perfect summer plans.

Rand’s not on the island by choice, either. After drinking, driving, and crashing his neighbour’s car, he’s been sent to live with his uncle until a spot opens up for him at boarding school.

If too-nice Austen and too-much-trouble Rand are opposites maybe that’s why they’re so attracted to each other.

A summer at one of the poshest riding camps in the province. A hundred horses. Rolling hills ribboned with hacking trails and cross-country jumps.

It could be perfect. Unless you’re Lacey Strickland, and you’re leaving Salem, Meg, and Jared behind on the island.

The only thing that isn’t hard to leave is Lacey’s memory of her first kiss, delivered in a spring-scented hayfield, which sizzled, then fizzled into nothing at all.

The other thing making camp less-than-perfect for Lacey? She’s not a cosseted camper, but a staff member – teaching riding lessons from sun-up to sun-down.

In Meg’s first letter to Lacey, she writes, “I bet anything there’s at least one amazing horse waiting for you there. And maybe a new great – if not best – friend.”

Is Meg right? Could Lacey meet a horse she’ll love just as much as Salem? And are there new friends in her future? Maybe even somebody who could give her more than just one kiss in a hayfield?

The island.

Meg can’t wait to get back. She’s excited to see her new mare kick up her heels in Salem’s old paddock. She’s impatient to run on country roads between breeze-blown hayfields.

Mostly, Meg longs to be back with Jared again.

It’s going to be the perfect summer.

But can real life live up to Meg’s huge expectations?

When Jared makes a heart-wrenching confession, Meg has to re-evaluate everything. If perfection’s not possible, can Meg find a way to build happiness for herself?

Fans of Appaloosa Summer will welcome the return to familiar places and characters, with the chance to be captivated by more of the beauty, romance, and dreaminess of Meg’s summer island life.

Meg has never known loss. Until her heart-horse drops dead underneath her in the show ring.

Jared has been living with loss ever since his father died in a tragic farming accident.

Meg escapes her grief by changing everything about her life; moving away to spend the summer on an island in the St. Lawrence River. New place. New job. No horses.

Once there, she meets Jared; working hard to keep anything else in his life from changing.

When Jared offers Meg a scruffy appaloosa mare out of a friend’s back field, it’s the beginning of a journey that will change them both by summer’s end.