This is how the story goes—although I’ve heard a few different versions. A young couple had a dream: to bring the best possible pizza to their tiny town in Alaska. The husband traveled to Italy to learn how to make pizza the original old-country way. The secret, he discovered, was to use a wood-fired oven. But those aren’t exactly growing on trees in Alaska.
So the couple researched and hunted and finally located the perfect oven—in New Jersey. Being intrepid Alaskans, they were not deterred by the distance. The husband and his father got in their truck, hitched a trailer to it, and drove the many thousands of miles to the east coast—and back again, with the oven strapped tight on that trailer. Is it the only time a pizza oven has traveled the Alaska-Canada Highway on a trailer? Possibly.
With the wood-fired pizza oven safely installed in a little shack-like building overlooking spectacular Kachemak Bay, they opened their restaurant and named it after their baby son. It was a wild success and still serves pizza to this day, although that baby is now about to graduate from high school. It’s our own family’s favorite place to celebrate birthdays.
Finn’s Pizza is a well-loved local establishment here—so well-loved that it provided the inspiration for Last Chance Pizza in YOURS SINCE YESTERDAY. Of course most of the backstory details are different—in my book, the shop is run by the Bellini family and their six kids, of which Zoe, the heroine, is one. She takes it over after the death of her father. By the time the story starts, she’s running the pizza shop while wrangling her twin teenage sisters.
That’s when her long-lost best friend Padric Jeffers—now a famous rock star—returns to town. You’ll have to read the book to see what happens next!
And while you’re reading, if you’d like to picture the real-life inspiration of Last Chance Pizza, here are a few shots.
From the beach at sunset … the view from inside … and the view from the road!
Can you blame me for being inspired by this romantic setting for a pizza shop? Are you hungry yet? I hope you enjoy YOURS SINCE YESTERDAY even more than a pepperoni and mushroom pizza! (Or whatever your fave is.)
Yours Since Yesterday
Once they were best friends. Now they’re from two different worlds.
Zoe Bellini’s world exploded the second she kissed her best friend…and not in a good way. Every teen dream came crashing down when Padric was whisked away from Alaska, and her luck hasn’t improved in the last fifteen years. In fact, the pizza shop owner’s terrible track record with men has become a local legend. She doesn’t expect it to change when Padric—now a world-famous rock star—sails back intotown. It’s not like they can just pick up where they left off…but her traitorous body sure wants to try.
Padric Jeffers never expected to return to his hometown of Lost Harbor, Alaska—not after the scandal that sent his family fleeing. But a mysterious letter with a warning about his childhood friend Zoe? Thathas him postponing his tour and hopping on the next flight north. Zoe’sbeen on his mind and in his lyrics since he left her behind, and once he sets eyes on the stunning grown-up version of his best friend, his mission is clear: do whatever it takes to have her—and keep her—this time around.
Easier said than done, since not everyone in town is excited about Padric’s return. And someone will do anything it takes to get rid of him. Can a pizza maker and a rock star overcome their history—not to mention scandals, angsty fans and unexpected danger—and find their way back to love?
A standalone novel in the Lost Harbor, Alaska series.