Torn

Coming in October 2025

“In an era when women’s rights and choices are increasingly under threat, TORN stands as a poignant and timely narrative. This compel- ling novel tackles the complex and controversial issue of reproductive rights through the eyes of Merilee Stillwater, a young Native American girl caught in the web of restrictive laws and societal expectations. With profound sensitivity and unwavering honesty, Mary Flinn delves into the myriad challenges faced by young women like Merilee, whose lives are profoundly impacted by the policies governing their bodies. TORN is not just a story—it’s a vital exploration of autonomy, courage, and the fight for one’s future in a world that often denies such choices. Readers will be deeply moved by Merilee’s journey and the broader implications it represents.”

— Suzanne Goodwyn, Author of Wrightsville Beach

Playing By Heart

Returning to the characters readers grew to love in LUMINA, author Mary Flinn continues their parallel stories in Playing by Heart. The current-day Wilmington characters Anne Borden Montgomery and Mr. May are back to attic diving during the early stay-at-home days of the COVID-19 pandemic. After discovering more of AB’s mother Sylvie’s diaries, the two are eager to share these new treasures with their younger neighbors, Nate and Elle, on the front porch where they can sit outside, read to each other, and maintain social distancing. The reading is a nice break for Nate, who is struggling to work effectively from home, and Elle, determined to keep her bakery from falling victim to COVID.

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Lumina

“Hollywood is dying to tell stories like this one. The sparkling lights of Lumina, the music wafting out onto the beach, the dazzling dresses, the smell of bathtub gin, the Southern charm, and the family secrets that won’t lay dying—they are all here, making The Great Gatsby look like child’s play.”

~ Tyler R. Tichelaar, author of When Teddy Came to Town

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Allegiance

“Mary Flinn’s Allegiance is a beautiful glimpse into the lives of characters so rich and authentic you feel every heartache, triumph, loss, and gain. A story of fidelity, heroism, friendship, and family, Flinn leaves you in complete bliss but still wanting more long after you’ve turned the last page.”

 — Sabrina Stephens, author of Banker’s Trust and Canned Good

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A Girl Like That

“A Girl Like That is the story of the girl we love to hate—Elle is the bad girl hell-bent on making trouble. As Flinn’s characters so often do, though, Elle surprises us with a complexity and humanness that make her sympathetic and even likable. She is good and bad, hard and soft, sweet and saucy—and we recognize Elle’s battle very clearly because we all know girls like that, or truer still, because in some way, we are all girls like that.”

— Sabrina Sells Stephens, author of Banker’s Trust and Canned Good

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Breaking Out

“Author Mary Flinn pushes the borders of romance once again with her new novel Breaking Out, the story of a twice married, once divorced, and once widowed, middle-aged woman who is facing the prospect of spending the rest of her life alone. Dr. Susannah Brody has a flourishing career as a dermatologist in the small community of Magnolia Village, but that doesn’t leave her a lot of options for meeting eligible men.”

— Tyler R. Tichelaar, Ph.D., and award-winning author of Arthur’s Legacy and The Best Place

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The Nest

“Mary Flinn is a fantastic writer! I could not put The  Nest down. I felt sad that it was over. I had to have a moment to let go once I finished  the book.  Flinn’s novel felt like I had been to the movies where the music pulls you in and takes you on a ride! The characters Cherie, Dave and their two grown  daughters,  Hope and Wesley are not cast as the typical “perfect” family, yet they are loving and supportive just as you would want for your own life.”

— Janet Reeves for Reader View 

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A Forever Man

“After reading Mary Flinn’s romance novel trilogy—The One, Second Time’s a Charm,  and Three Gifts —I thought I had heard the last of her characters Kyle and Chelsea Davis—after all, a trilogy is three books. But Mary Flinn and her readers love these characters too much to say goodbye to them, and so they return in A Forever Man.”

— Tyler R. Tichelaar, Ph.D. and author of Spirit of the North: a paranormal romance

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Three Gifts

“Throughout Three Gifts, you will be rooting for Chelsea and Kyle, young marrieds so appealing, yet real that you’ll wish you could clone them. They settle in the mountains near Boone, North Carolina, and when they are faced with tragedies, they handle them with courage and grace. Even those oh-so-human doubts and fears that threaten occasionally to swamp them are banished through humor and the abiding love that sustains them.”

— Nancy Gotter Gates, author of the Tommi Poag and Emma Daniel mysteries, and women’s fiction Sand Castles and Life Studies.

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Second Time’s a Charm

“Mary Flinn is the female equivalent of author Nicholas Sparks. Her characters are as real as sunburn after a long day at the beach. Hot days and hotter nights make Second Time’s a Charm an excellent sultry romance that will stay with readers long after the sun goes down. The second book in a trilogy, this story is a movie waiting to happen.”

— Laura S. Wharton, author of The Pirate’s Bastard and Leaving Lukens

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The One

“Powerful and timeless, The One is a heartwarming story illuminating a love that is, in this age, truly rare. Flinn’s depiction of a young woman’s ability to remain true to herself in the face of many trials is unrivaled as she powerfully proclaims the importance of faith, family, friendship, and above all, love.”

— Meredith Strandberg, Student, North Carolina State University

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mary

A native of North Carolina, award-winning author Mary Flinn long ago fell in love with her state’s mountains and its coast, creating the backdrops for her series of novels, The One, Second Time’s a Charm, Three Gifts, and A Forever Man. With degrees from both the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and East Carolina University, Flinn retired in 2013 from her first career as a speech pathologist in the N.C. public schools. Writing novels was always a dream for Flinn, who began crafting the pages of The One when her younger daughter left for college at Appalachian State University in 2009. The characters in this book have continued to call to her, wanting more of their stories told, which bred the next three books in the series. A follow-up story, the grand finale to the Kyle and Chelsea series, featuring one of the series’ characters, notorious mean girl, Elle McLarin, whom everyone loves to hate, A Girl Like That, can also be read as a standalone. Other standalone titles include The Nest, Breaking Out, and Allegiance, a gripping tale about two army couples whose lives are ripped apart as a result of a misunderstanding. read more

Awards

 

  • Allegiance won a B.R.A.G. Medallion book award. 
  • A Girl Like That won a 2015-16 Reader Views Literary Book Award for general fiction, and a B.R.A.G. Medallion.
  • The Nest won a B.R.A.G. Medallion book award.
  • A Forever Man won an honorable mention in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2013.
  • Three Gifts placed first in the Romance Novel category in the Reviewers’ Choice Awards, and won Pacific Book Review’s Best Romance Novel of 2011.
  • Second Time’s a Charm won an honorable mention in the Readers’ Choice Awards.

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