It’s Release Day! No Greater Love Is Officially Here

September 29, 2026

Today is the day.

After years of writing, researching, revising, editing, formatting, planning, second-guessing, celebrating, worrying, and—occasionally—staring at my computer wondering why I ever thought writing another book was a good idea, I can finally say it:

NO GREATER LOVE IS HERE!

No Greater Love, Book Two of A Cape May Trilogy, is officially out in the world.

And before I say anything else, I need to begin with two very important words:

Thank you.

Thank you to everyone who read Thicker Than Water and asked what happened next.

Thank you to the readers who pre-ordered No Greater Love, joined my Street Team, read advance copies, shared my posts, recommended my books to friends and book clubs, attended author events, supported independent bookstores carrying my novels, and cheered me on throughout this very long road to publication.

And thank you to those of you who have simply followed along.

An independent author doesn't bring a book into the world alone. Every recommendation, review, library request, social media share, bookstore purchase, and conversation about a book helps it find another reader.

I am extraordinarily grateful for all of it.

Welcome Back to Cape May

A Cape May Trilogy began with Thicker Than Water, opening on July 4, 1916, in Cape May, New Jersey. Danny and Shannon Culligan's story unfolded against a world rapidly approaching war, as family loyalty, class divisions, secrets, romance, and the looming Great War changed the course of their lives.

But history didn't stop when the war ended. Neither did their story.

No Greater Love brings the Culligans and Callaways forward to 1923, into an America that looks very different from the one they knew seven years earlier.

The Great War is over.

The Jazz Age has arrived.

Prohibition is the law of the land.

And just off the Jersey Shore, another war is already underway.

Cape May During Prohibition

One of the things I love most about writing historical fiction set in Cape May is discovering the history hiding beneath places that feel so familiar today. During Prohibition, the Jersey Shore wasn't simply a vacation destination. Its coastline, marshes, creeks, inlets, fishing communities, and proximity to major cities made South Jersey an ideal setting for the illegal liquor trade.

Beyond American territorial waters, ships carrying liquor gathered along what became known as Rum Row. Smaller boats traveled offshore to collect their cargo and bring it back toward the coast, where alcohol could make its way into an enormous underground distribution network.

Meanwhile, the United States Coast Guard faced the increasingly difficult—and dangerous—job of enforcing Prohibition at sea.

That conflict provided an irresistible historical backdrop for No Greater Love.

The novel blends the fictional lives of the Culligan and Callaway families with the very real world of 1920s Cape May, Jersey Shore rumrunning, Coast Guard enforcement, Philadelphia organized crime, bootleggers, Prohibition-era smuggling, and Rum Row.

Some real historical figures even make their way into the world of the trilogy, including notorious Philadelphia bootlegging figures and the legendary rumrunner William “Bill” McCoy.

That intersection between fact and fiction is one of my favorite parts of writing historical fiction.

I begin with the question:

What really happened?

Then I get to ask:

What might have happened?

But No Greater Love Is Still a Family Story

As much as I love the history—and anyone who follows me knows how happily I can disappear down a historical research rabbit hole—the history has never been the true heart of A Cape May Trilogy. The people are.

At its core, No Greater Love is a story about family, marriage, friendship, loyalty, trauma, redemption, secrets, sacrifice, and the complicated choices people make for those they love.

When readers reunite with Danny, Jennie, Shannon, and Hugh, several years have passed since the events of Thicker Than Water. They survived the Great War.

But survival and healing aren't necessarily the same thing.

They've built marriages and families. They've tried to leave old wounds behind. They've made promises to one another—and to themselves.

Now they have to live with the people they've become.

And history, unfortunately, has other plans.

What Would You Sacrifice for Someone You Love?

That question lies at the heart of No Greater Love.

Because love isn't limited to romance. There is the love between a husband and wife. The fierce bond between a brother and sister. The love of a parent for a child. Friendship. Brotherhood. Unrequited love. Even love for the person we hope we might someday become.

Love can inspire tremendous courage. It can also make us reckless. It can make us protect someone. Lie for someone. Forgive someone. Risk everything for someone.

Yet, sometimes, the greatest act of love is letting someone go.

Those questions run through every major storyline in No Greater Love.

And while this novel has bootleggers, rumrunners, Coast Guard cutters, organized crime, secrets, danger, romance, betrayal, and plenty of morally complicated decisions, it has always been the relationships between these characters that mattered most to me.

For Readers Who Love Historical Fiction With...

If your bookshelves are filled with character-driven historical fiction, family sagas, Prohibition-era novels, historical romance, coastal historical fiction, or immersive novels based on real American history, I wrote A Cape May Trilogy with readers like you in mind.

You'll find sibling bonds, marriage under pressure, found family, forbidden loyalties, secrets and betrayal, slow-burn romance, trauma and recovery, class divisions, redemption, a bootlegger versus a lawman—and more than one character whose definition of “doing the right thing” is decidedly complicated.

And, of course, you'll find Cape May. The beaches. The harbor. The marshes. The grand houses. The fishing boats. The familiar landmarks. And the history hiding underneath all of it.

To My Thicker Than Water Readers...

This book exists in no small part because of you. When I published Thicker Than Water in 2022, I had no idea where it would lead. I certainly couldn't have predicted the readers I'd meet, the book clubs I'd visit, the bookstores and libraries that would welcome me, or the messages I'd receive from people who became invested in this complicated little Cape May family.

Some of you have been waiting a very long time to find out what happened next.

Thank you for waiting.

And yes...Danny is back. Shannon is back. Hugh and Jennie are back. And Frank Hilton is most definitely back. Those of you who know...know.

New to A Cape May Trilogy?

Welcome! No Greater Love is Book Two, so I strongly recommend beginning with Thicker Than Water to experience the complete story.

The trilogy begins in Cape May in 1916, before America's entry into World War I, and follows the Culligan family and those they love through one of the most turbulent decades of the early twentieth century.

Book Two moves their story into Prohibition.

And Book Three will eventually carry them toward the early years of the Great Depression.

Different eras. Different battles. The same family.

History. Love. Courage.

A Special Thank You to My ARC Readers and Street Team

I also want to take a moment to thank the people who helped No Greater Love before release day ever arrived.

To my Advance Readers: thank you for trusting me with your reading time and for being among the first people to step into this next chapter of the Culligans' and Callaways' lives.

To my Street Team: thank you for sharing graphics, reels, posts, recommendations, and release information with your own communities.

Word of mouth remains one of the most powerful ways readers discover books—especially independently published books.

Every time you tell someone, “I think you'd like this book,” you are doing something incredibly meaningful for an author.

Thank you.

Reviews Make an Enormous Difference

If you've already read No Greater Love—whether as an ARC reader or after receiving your copy—an honest review is one of the most valuable ways you can support the book.

Reviews can be left on the platform of your choice, and they don't need to be long. A few honest sentences about your reading experience are more than enough.

Reviews on Amazon are particularly helpful for visibility and discoverability on that platform, while reviews on sites such as Goodreads and other book communities can help fellow historical-fiction readers decide whether No Greater Love belongs on their TBR.

And if reviews aren't your thing, that's okay too.

Recommend it to a friend.

Suggest it to your book club.

Request it from your local library.

Share it on social media.

Or simply read it and enjoy it.

Every reader matters.

And Now...It's Yours

There is a strange moment that happens when you publish a novel.

For years, the story belongs almost entirely to you. You know the characters' secrets. You know where they've been and where they're going. You know the scenes that made you laugh, the ones that made you cry, and the chapters you rewrote so many times you thought you might never willingly look at them again.

Then release day arrives. And suddenly, the story doesn't belong only to you anymore.

It belongs to the readers.

That's where No Greater Love is today.

So, to everyone who has pre-ordered, purchased, reviewed, recommended, shared, encouraged, or simply waited patiently for September 29th:

Thank you.

Thank you for supporting an independent author.

Thank you for supporting historical fiction.

Thank you for coming back to Cape May.

And most of all, thank you for caring about this family as much as I do.

I hope you'll laugh with them. I hope you'll worry about them. I hope you'll occasionally want to yell at them. And I hope that when you reach the final page, you'll be glad you came back.

No Greater Love is available now.

Welcome back to Cape May.

The Great War may be over...but another is well underway.