Some stories change the world. Others change the storyteller.

Leyla Priestly has spent her life chasing conflict—camera in hand, truth in focus. As an award-winning photojournalist, she's seen the darkest corners of the world and captured the images that made headlines. But one haunting photo leaves a mark even she can't outrun.

Burned out and spiraling, Leyla is sent on a "puff piece" assignment to a remote island sanctuary off the coast of Maine—home to a herd of wild horses and the gruff, camera-shy vet who cares for them.

Conrad Ashford doesn't need the press. He needs peace. But when Leyla storms into his world, her sharp edges and haunted eyes stir something he's kept buried.

As Leyla tries to find a story worth telling, she begins to see that healing doesn't come from headlines—it comes from hope, community, and learning to stay still long enough to feel it.

Set against windswept shores and galloping hooves, Island Sanctuary is a romantic women's fiction story of second chances, quiet redemption, and the kind of beauty that doesn't need to be chased to be found.