WELCOME TO SEAGULL STREET: That Summer In Ocean City, Maryland
BOOK ONE IN THE OCEAN CITY SEAGULL SERIES
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WELCOME TO SEAGULL STREET
BOOK OVERVIEW
That summer in Ocean City, Maryland… What if starting over meant facing everything you thought you’d left behind?
In Ocean City, the summer sun doesn’t just shine, it sparkles with potential. Sunrises over the waves, sunsets melting into the bay. The Boardwalk buzzes with energy. Ice cream melts too fast. Strangers meet. Hearts break and mend. And under the two watchful eyes of a pair of oddball seagulls, anything can happen. During a summer like this one, the possibilities feel limitless.
Just a couple blocks from the crashing waves and soft sand, on a quiet little bayside street, three lives are about to tangle in ways that will change them forever.
Rachel “Ray” Anders is a cybersecurity analyst specializing in election security, working behind the scenes to help protect the integrity of the voting process. After losing so much during the pandemic, she retreats to her grandparents’ old beach house on Seagull Street, hoping to disappear for a while. No connections. No noise. Just her dog Charlie, the water, her thoughts, and the steady comfort of birds overhead.
Then Olivia McNalley moves in next door.
A fast-talking, big-hearted third-grade teacher turned summer waitress, Olivia is rebuilding after a divorce that left her shaken and watchful. Her ex-husband didn’t just change, he radicalized. Pulled deep into online forums and grievance-fueled “patriot” fantasies, he became someone Olivia no longer recognized… or felt safe around. Ocean City is supposed to be her reset. What she doesn’t expect is an instant, easy friendship with Ray, or the realization that home might be something she can choose for herself.
Enter Evan Michaels: an Eastern Shore native, marketing manager by day, surfer by weekend, and friend-to-all by default. Newly single and learning to redefine his own story, Evan sees what others don’t: the way Ray flinches when someone gets too close, and how Olivia’s bright smile hides something darker.
Then things start to unravel.
Catfishing. Theft. A boardwalk tram hijacking. And threats that hit far too close to home. As the summer heats up, so does the tension, and the past each of them thought they’d left behind begins creeping back like the next high tide.
In a summer of second chances, can three unlikely allies rewrite their stories… or will everything they’ve built wash away before Labor Day?
Told like a multi-POV diary of summer 2023 (covering all of the craziness of that summer: emerging from COVID lockdown, Barbenheimer, and social issues), with warmth, wit, and a touch of suspense, Welcome to Seagull Street is a post-pandemic slice-of-life beach read where romance, mystery, and unexpected friendship collide. Through it all, two peculiar seagulls—one with a missing foot, the other with a beak that curves just so—keep silent watch from the rooftops, witnesses to every twist, turn, and truth revealed.
What it is…
🏖️ A love letter to Ocean City, Maryland
🎭 Multiple perspectives
💕 Meet cute, slow-burn romance
📅 Time capsule of Summer 2023
🔄 Second chances
💔 Starting over after divorce
👭 Introvert/extrovert friendship
🫶 Female friendships
🏠 Nosy neighbor
🚩 Escaping a toxic relationship
📻 Conspiracy-theorist antagonist
🏡 Found family
☀️ Summer of self-discovery
🐕 Lovable dog sidekicks
🧩 Amateur sleuths
🔍 Small-town secrets
🌊 Beach-town slice of life
📰 Post-pandemic themes
🎵 Pop-culture rich
📚 Future historical fiction
💙 Hopeful, grounded, and real
📍 Some may say “woke,” most say “historically accurate”
What it isn’t…
❌ Just a beach read
❌ Just a romance
❌ Just a mystery
❌ Escapist, timeless fiction
❌ Insta-love
❌ Romantasy
❌ Supernatural
❌ Thriller or horror
🌶️❌ Super spicy (spice level: low-medium)
🔺❌ Love triangle drama
Book Details:
Title: Welcome to Seagull Street
Subtitle: That Summer in Ocean City, Maryland
Author: Alissa Arford
Editor: Malory Wood
Cover Art: Marc Emond
Publisher: Red Hill Creek Enterprises, LLC
Publication Date: May 24, 2025
Length: 366 Pages
Language: English
Format: Paperback and eBook
Availability: Amazon and IngramSpark
Paperback:
ISBN: 979-8-9985299-1-7
MSRP: $19.99
Kindle:
ISBN: 979-8-9985299-0-0
Price: $5.99 USD
Kindle Unlimited: $0.00 with Subscription
Purchase and get a preview of “Welcome to Seagull Street” directly from my printshop at IngramSpark:
Alissa Arford 