I'll Become the Sea — Rebecca Rogers Maher

Jane Elliott has found peace. By all accounts, she's a success story: a survivor of childhood abuse who has dedicated her life to teaching. She's also engaged to marry Ben, an ambitious documentary filmmaker.

But hers is a false and fragile peace. Focusing on her students at an urban Jersey Shore school and maintaining a relationship with an absentee fiancé conveniently keep Jane from feeling much of anything at all.

This safe existence is threatened when she meets David, a musician who runs an afterschool program for at-risk kids. Because of her commitment to Ben, Jane can deny her attraction to David and convince herself they are just good friends.

But an accident, a death, a grim family obligation and her own intense desire force Jane to overcome the past, rethink the present -- and take a genuine risk on love.

47,000 words