Heartwarming books with characters you'll love: have you been to Pajaro Bay?

Camilla Stewart desperately needs to start over. Her ex-fiance ripped her off and disappeared, leaving behind his eight-year-old son. She soon finds herself out of gas in a tiny beach town with the lost boy in tow and the key to an abandoned cottage in her pocket. But there's more to the village of Pajaro Bay than meets the eye, including a handsome local cop poking into her business, a bunch of quirky neighbors determined to pull her out of her shell, and, oh yeah, a killer on the loose who is somehow linked to her, the young boy, and the darling little house known as the Honeymoon Cottage.

Get away to the little California beach town where the cottages are cute, the neighbors are nosy, and it's always possible to find your personal Happily Ever After. The Pajaro Bay novels can be read in any order.