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When the Season Ends: A Mackinac Island Novel
An escape to Mackinac Island, just for the season. Have you ever wondered ...
What would happen if you just slipped away? Could you leave what’s familiar to become someone else—in a different place, living a different life with no one noticing? That’s a question Olivia Nash never knew she had, until she started answering it.
Her son has slipped away on a summer internship at a Michigan camp. Her husband, Nate, has slipped away on an extended assignment in Montreal; too busy, too wrapped up in a high-stakes merger to include her. Olivia wouldn’t want to spend a summer in a city she didn’t know without him to keep her company. What would she do all day? Besides, they speak French in Montreal.
It’s not that she intended to run away, if that’s what you want to call it. But smart phones and distracted, disinterested people make it surprisingly easy to telecommute in your role as wife, mother, sister and friend. Where you are is irrelevant. Until where you are, begins to change who you are.
Back in a place from her past, on an island that lives in the past, Olivia creates a second, parallel life with an unlikely assortment of an independent college student in a quiet crisis; the eccentric owner of Mackinac Island’s bookstore; Chef, now older and somehow better looking, but still the temperamental prodigy she remembered from that summer long ago. And the owner of a cottage, known only to her through emails as Frankie, who invites her to house-sit and later revive the neglected Lilac Cottage, giving Olivia the place to reimagine her life and calling at the same time.
You might be able to slip away from your life, or take a sabbatical of sorts. For a summer. It’s not clear if just as easily you can slip back into the life you left behind when the season ends.
Her son has slipped away on a summer internship at a Michigan camp. Her husband, Nate, has slipped away on an extended assignment in Montreal; too busy, too wrapped up in a high-stakes merger to include her. Olivia wouldn’t want to spend a summer in a city she didn’t know without him to keep her company. What would she do all day? Besides, they speak French in Montreal.
It’s not that she intended to run away, if that’s what you want to call it. But smart phones and distracted, disinterested people make it surprisingly easy to telecommute in your role as wife, mother, sister and friend. Where you are is irrelevant. Until where you are, begins to change who you are.
Back in a place from her past, on an island that lives in the past, Olivia creates a second, parallel life with an unlikely assortment of an independent college student in a quiet crisis; the eccentric owner of Mackinac Island’s bookstore; Chef, now older and somehow better looking, but still the temperamental prodigy she remembered from that summer long ago. And the owner of a cottage, known only to her through emails as Frankie, who invites her to house-sit and later revive the neglected Lilac Cottage, giving Olivia the place to reimagine her life and calling at the same time.
You might be able to slip away from your life, or take a sabbatical of sorts. For a summer. It’s not clear if just as easily you can slip back into the life you left behind when the season ends.
318 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2025
10 people are currently reading
79 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
September 6, 2025
When the Season Ends is a heartfelt and beautifully written novel that captures the spirit and charm of Mackinac Island while following the story of Olivia Nash—a devoted mom and wife who finds herself in search of a different life, if only for a season.
Stacy Windahl interweaves several messy, heartbreaking and empowering stories, each one poignant and beautiful in its own right. The invisible string that connects all of them is Olivia’s desire to discover her identity and purpose in a chapter of life where both have seemed to slip away.
By the final page, readers are left with the proposition that every season of life—no matter how messy, painful, or fleeting—holds its own beauty and significance, if only we are willing to embrace it.
A must read for anyone in any season of their life!
Stacy Windahl interweaves several messy, heartbreaking and empowering stories, each one poignant and beautiful in its own right. The invisible string that connects all of them is Olivia’s desire to discover her identity and purpose in a chapter of life where both have seemed to slip away.
By the final page, readers are left with the proposition that every season of life—no matter how messy, painful, or fleeting—holds its own beauty and significance, if only we are willing to embrace it.
A must read for anyone in any season of their life!
June 22, 2025
When the Season Ends by Stacy Windahl
Set in Mackinac Island and without using overly flowery descriptions, Stacy vividly brings the island to life. Using her own experience of working there in the ’80s she crafts a relatable sense of place and seasonal change.
On par with Kristen Hannah, Stacy skillfully draws the reader into the life of a woman who aches for renewed purpose. The story is peppered with interesting characters, each with a surprising story of their own.
You will likely find yourself planning a trip to this idyllic island. I myself have put visiting the island at the top of my bucket list!
When the Season Ends is a perfect book club choice.
Pre order online at Amazon.
Set in Mackinac Island and without using overly flowery descriptions, Stacy vividly brings the island to life. Using her own experience of working there in the ’80s she crafts a relatable sense of place and seasonal change.
On par with Kristen Hannah, Stacy skillfully draws the reader into the life of a woman who aches for renewed purpose. The story is peppered with interesting characters, each with a surprising story of their own.
You will likely find yourself planning a trip to this idyllic island. I myself have put visiting the island at the top of my bucket list!
When the Season Ends is a perfect book club choice.
Pre order online at Amazon.
July 15, 2025
Ms. Windahl is a great story teller. This is the perfect summer read. If you want something where the main character is a 50-ish woman, sorting out some issues in her mostly happy life but yet, yearns to return to a less complicated time in her life, this is the book for you. The summer season on Mackinac Island is brought to life in a way that you feel you are working and living right there as well. The characters have rich personalities with strong feelings and emotions; the dialogue is authentic with lots of very clever, believable moments. The plot has some wonderful twists and turns. And the ending leaves you wondering what happens next. I certainly hope there is a sequel.
October 19, 2025
Set in the most iconic vacation spot in Michigan, Mackinac Island, When the Season Ends tells the story of Olivia, a middle-aged married woman with a college-aged son. She is alone for about the first time and it looks like it will be for the entire summer. She remembers the young-adult summer she worked on Mackinac Island and on the spur of the moment, she decides to return there.
It was easy to visualize the setting, because I know it quite well, having had my wedding on the island and just recently taken two granddaughters on an adventure to the island. My 10-year-old granddaughter was riding on the horse and buggy (which is how you get around the island) and said, “I feel like I’m in a movie!”
I remembered that quote several times while I was reading Windahl’s book, because it very much felt like a Hallmark movie. Perhaps some day, it will be!
It was easy to visualize the setting, because I know it quite well, having had my wedding on the island and just recently taken two granddaughters on an adventure to the island. My 10-year-old granddaughter was riding on the horse and buggy (which is how you get around the island) and said, “I feel like I’m in a movie!”
I remembered that quote several times while I was reading Windahl’s book, because it very much felt like a Hallmark movie. Perhaps some day, it will be!
November 29, 2025
When the Season Ends is rich and satisfying (kinda like a hunk of Mackinac Island fudge). Windahl's multi-threaded plot kept me engaged with action, humor, and surprises, but what pulled me in--and kept me turning pages--was the artfully articulated relationships the characters have with each other and with themselves through their own inner dialogues. As they begin to discern and address the dissatisfaction of their backstories through self-examination and risk-taking, they come to accept that caring relationships, though messy and costly, must be the core of the lives they long for. The fact that the novel does not end on a saccharine note feels authentic and, one hopes, opens the door to a possible sequel. Mackinac Island--its buildings, traditions, landmarks, and more--are an ever-present backdrop, a deep touchpoint for those who have visited before and an invitation to those who have never been.
September 23, 2025
As a former summer employee at the Iroquios hotel on Mackinac Island, I truly enjoyed this book. The author was also an employee at this same hotel/restaurant. The story is about Olivia, who worked on the island 24 years ago. She finds herself alone one summer as her husband is in Montreal, and her son is working as a camp counselor. She is at a crossroads in life, not wanting to spend the summer alone at home and looking to find a new identity. She ends up going to Mackinac Island, where she finds purpose through new friends. All through the book, she wonders how her family will accept and fit into her new life.
August 21, 2025
I read this book in one sitting! Set against charming Mackinac Island, this book offers a gender-bending twist on the midlife crisis trope. Olivia drops her college aged son off at a summer long camp as her husband leaves for an extended business trip without her. At a crossroads, Olivia seeks out a location from her past as a way to find a way forward and reclaim her identity in this heartwarming story. She adopts a new blended family along her path to discovery. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a sweet afternoon escape.
October 7, 2025
What a lovely story about an older woman taking the summer for herself and going back to Mackinac Island where she worked as a college student. After dropping off her son for his job as a camp counselor in Michigan she misses a turn on the way home. She decides to spend a few days and it turns into the summer. Her husband is working in Canada on a major merger and won't be home so she decides why not. As she makes new friends she is folded into the island's family. The scenery and island descriptions just reinforce my desire to visit.
August 29, 2025
I bought this while visiting Mackinac Island two weeks ago, and this book is everything I needed. I had gone to the island alone after breaking up with my boyfriend, and in many ways this book mirrored my experience there of building connections and finding yourself again.
This book was truly so beautiful. It means so much to me and I’m so grateful I picked it up.
Also how can I get the cover art as a painting because it’s gorg and I’m obsessed.
This book was truly so beautiful. It means so much to me and I’m so grateful I picked it up.
Also how can I get the cover art as a painting because it’s gorg and I’m obsessed.
September 28, 2025
Olivia is at a crossroads. She's had a pretty good life, but now her anchors - her husband and son - are away from home for the summer and her life feels different as the "free"days lie ahead of her. What she does next ... the adventures she experiences, the people she meets, the challenges she encounters ... all are explored in this great novel from Stacy Windahl. Whether a beach read or one for winter hibernation, heartily recommend!
September 14, 2025
When I started the book I thought it may be a light romance but I was wrong. There was depth in the character development and you did not want to leave them at the end…. Sequel?
Quite a statement on where the lead character felt she was in her relationships that she was able to disappear for a while!
Quite a statement on where the lead character felt she was in her relationships that she was able to disappear for a while!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 20, 2025
One of these days I'll get up to Mackinac Island, but When the Season Ends made me experience it. The book vibrantly conveys its sights, sounds and tastes, but also its ambiance. The island became a comfortable, lived-in place for protagonist Olivia and for me as well. The distinct, believable characters and vibrant storyline kept me captivated and left me touched.
January 4, 2026
After visiting Mackinac Island at the end of the summer and running into the author who sold my mom and I a copy of her book, this was the perfect story to get me reading again. An easy read but beautifully written, capturing the essence of the island impeccably well. This story also reminded me of my mom and got me thinking about her identity outside of being a mother.
July 20, 2025
A beautiful novel. Slow, wise and quietly evocative. Like the best island retreats
We had the magnificent good fortune to visit Mackinac Island this year, travelling with our son and his girlfriend. Maybe I’m an islander by inclination. I live in Perth, Western Australia, with Rottnest Island a mere 20km off our coast, and I’ve always appreciated the island life. The slower pace. The sense of remove. The quiet dignity of places where cars aren’t allowed.
Rottnest has bikes and quokkas. Mackinac has horses. A lot of horses. And a helluva lot of charm.
Stacy Windahl captures that charm with remarkable tenderness in When the Season Ends. But what elevates this novel well beyond travel nostalgia is its meditation on purpose: what happens when the scaffolding of family, career or identity quietly collapses. Olivia Nash, the protagonist, is poised at exactly that inflection point. Her son’s off at camp. Her husband’s off in Montreal, closing a corporate deal. The kitchen doesn’t need her. The house hums along without her.
“I’m a free woman this summer,” Olivia says to her son as Nate, her husband, drives away. Without looking back.
‘She tried, but the tears paid no attention to her will. They wouldn’t be stopped. The sadness, the feeling of loss. Her shoulders shook.’
After dropping her son at summer camp, Olivia is still searching for a sign. “What do I want? Where do I go next?”
Through a chance conversation at a gas station, Olivia does something quietly radical. She returns to Mackinac Island, where she once spent a college summer waitressing, and signs on again at the Hotel Iroquois, alongside a group of college students there for seasonal work.
She doesn’t tell her husband or family where she is. Or that she’s taken a waitstaff job. For the entire summer.
Cue confusion, bafflement and a steady unfolding of secrets and identity slips. The joy of the novel lies in its beautifully sustained near-miss energy. The tension builds like a summer storm just offshore.
Windahl’s prose is subtle and full of grace. Wonderful literary references are relevant and bring insight without pretension. The characters are sharply drawn, with dialogue that is smart, often funny and never forced. Olivia’s repartee with Chef (Sean, who is every bit as maddening as he was years earlier) is particularly satisfying, being playful without slipping into sitcom territory.
Windahl also plays with the theme of deception. There’s misdirection, assumed identities and characters performing versions of themselves. The novel asks a quiet but potent question: is deception always wrong? Or sometimes necessary for reinvention?
The pacing is gentle. The first half unfolds without major reveals but builds steadily. And then comes a final jolt – unexpected and wonderful. It’s summed up in three words on page 296. I won’t say what they are. That would be unfair. But they land with quiet force.
I didn’t find the bookstore on Mackinac. I didn’t go looking. Instead, I sat in the café near Noel Skiba’s studio gallery, letting the island air and colour wash over me. That’s the kind of choice Olivia might understand. Sometimes, what we don’t do says everything.
We had the magnificent good fortune to visit Mackinac Island this year, travelling with our son and his girlfriend. Maybe I’m an islander by inclination. I live in Perth, Western Australia, with Rottnest Island a mere 20km off our coast, and I’ve always appreciated the island life. The slower pace. The sense of remove. The quiet dignity of places where cars aren’t allowed.
Rottnest has bikes and quokkas. Mackinac has horses. A lot of horses. And a helluva lot of charm.
Stacy Windahl captures that charm with remarkable tenderness in When the Season Ends. But what elevates this novel well beyond travel nostalgia is its meditation on purpose: what happens when the scaffolding of family, career or identity quietly collapses. Olivia Nash, the protagonist, is poised at exactly that inflection point. Her son’s off at camp. Her husband’s off in Montreal, closing a corporate deal. The kitchen doesn’t need her. The house hums along without her.
“I’m a free woman this summer,” Olivia says to her son as Nate, her husband, drives away. Without looking back.
‘She tried, but the tears paid no attention to her will. They wouldn’t be stopped. The sadness, the feeling of loss. Her shoulders shook.’
After dropping her son at summer camp, Olivia is still searching for a sign. “What do I want? Where do I go next?”
Through a chance conversation at a gas station, Olivia does something quietly radical. She returns to Mackinac Island, where she once spent a college summer waitressing, and signs on again at the Hotel Iroquois, alongside a group of college students there for seasonal work.
She doesn’t tell her husband or family where she is. Or that she’s taken a waitstaff job. For the entire summer.
Cue confusion, bafflement and a steady unfolding of secrets and identity slips. The joy of the novel lies in its beautifully sustained near-miss energy. The tension builds like a summer storm just offshore.
Windahl’s prose is subtle and full of grace. Wonderful literary references are relevant and bring insight without pretension. The characters are sharply drawn, with dialogue that is smart, often funny and never forced. Olivia’s repartee with Chef (Sean, who is every bit as maddening as he was years earlier) is particularly satisfying, being playful without slipping into sitcom territory.
Windahl also plays with the theme of deception. There’s misdirection, assumed identities and characters performing versions of themselves. The novel asks a quiet but potent question: is deception always wrong? Or sometimes necessary for reinvention?
The pacing is gentle. The first half unfolds without major reveals but builds steadily. And then comes a final jolt – unexpected and wonderful. It’s summed up in three words on page 296. I won’t say what they are. That would be unfair. But they land with quiet force.
I didn’t find the bookstore on Mackinac. I didn’t go looking. Instead, I sat in the café near Noel Skiba’s studio gallery, letting the island air and colour wash over me. That’s the kind of choice Olivia might understand. Sometimes, what we don’t do says everything.
July 24, 2025
Highly recommend this fun novel and I hope the story of these great characters will continue. The author has a gift for bringing people and settings to life in a very enjoyable read. I will definitely look for more from Stacy Windahl!!
September 4, 2025
This book was so delightful! The BEST beach read this year! Stacy’s attention to detail makes you think you are at Mackinac island! When I finished the book it had me wanting to plan a trip to the island and also wanting a sequel to the book! Happy reading!
September 29, 2025
I loved the character development. I was so vested in each of them - so thank you for not killing anyone off! Such great twists and turns in the story. Can’t wait for more! What is Cliff’s story? You will love this book!
July 27, 2025
Stacy Windahl's book was a treat to read, a wonderful escape. It made me feel like I was walking the streets of Mackinac. I loved the characters and wonder if Nate's not looking back at Olivia at the beginning and at the end of the story is a clue to what happens in the sequel. Can't wait to share the story with friends. Nancy
August 6, 2025
Reading books by people you know is the best! :) This made my Michigan-y heart so happy.
September 14, 2025
When the Season Ends is a delightful, heartfelt novel that explores relationships through realistic, colorful and relatable characters on Mackinac Island. Highly recommend!
November 8, 2025
Enjoyable read. Extra special if you have visited Mackinac Island. Engaging character development.
January 1, 2026
I enjoyed reading about places on the island that I was familiar with.
August 27, 2025
I absolutely loved When the Season Ends! From the first chapter, I was hooked and didn’t want to put it down. The characters felt so real, and the story had such a perfect balance of heartache, hope, and inspiration. It made me laugh, tear up, and reflect—all in the best way.
Stacy Windahl has such a natural way of writing that you feel like you’re living right alongside the characters. By the end, I didn’t want the book to be over. This is one of those stories that sticks with you long after you finish it.
Highly recommend to anyone looking for a meaningful and heartfelt read.
Stacy Windahl has such a natural way of writing that you feel like you’re living right alongside the characters. By the end, I didn’t want the book to be over. This is one of those stories that sticks with you long after you finish it.
Highly recommend to anyone looking for a meaningful and heartfelt read.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews