Book: “Chesapeake Blue” by Nora Roberts (2004)

Perfect page-turning locale: Chesapeake Beach, Md.

Publisher’s description: “After a harrowing boyhood with a drug-addicted mother, Seth was taken in by the Quinn family, growing up with three older brothers who’d watched over him with love. Now a grown man returning from Europe as a successful painter, Seth is settling down on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, surrounded once again by his beloved family — and the city girl who can’t resist him.”

Afterword: The literary equivalents of Lifetime Original Movies, the novels of Nora Roberts are just as prevalent on American beaches as oversized shades and tubes of sunscreen. Next time that you hit the beach, try to count how many Roberts-readers you spot. Not surprisingly, several Nora Roberts novels have indeed been adapted into Lifetime Original Movies, starring folks like Heather Locklear, Jerry O’Connell and LeAnn Rimes. This one, the fourth and final book in Roberts’ “Chesapeake” series, is set on the shores of (where else but) beautiful Chesapeake Bay.