Some love stories ask whether two people will fall in love. Beginning of Goodbye asks a riskier question: after trust is shattered, can a husband and wife find their way back to each other without pretending the damage never happened?
The emotionally intense novel introduces Elisa DeLaGarza Reid and Riley Reid, a married couple caught between love and suspicion, desire and distance, silence and truth. Their story is intimate, stormy, and designed for readers who want romance with consequence.
This is the first doorway into Deluna’s three-book Galveston Grace Series, an interconnected romantic world shaped by the coastal beauty of Texas, complicated families, Catholic faith, cultural traditions, and the belief that deeply wounded relationships can still move toward healing. Books Two and Three are already in development and are expected to follow soon, giving early readers the chance to join the series from its very beginning.
Beginning of Goodbye is available now as an ebook, paperback, hardcover, and unabridged audiobook. Readers can begin on Amazon, Bookshop.org, Rakuten Kobo, Audible, Google Play Books, or Everand, then follow the continuing world through the official book website.
A Romance That Begins After the Wedding
Many romance novels build toward commitment. Beginning of Goodbye asks what happens after commitment has already been made.
Elisa and Riley are not strangers learning how to fall in love. They are husband and wife, still deeply connected but separated by an apparent betrayal neither of them fully understands.
While grieving in Scotland, Riley is exploited by a predatory former girlfriend. Photographs of the encounter are later presented as evidence of a willing affair. Elisa is devastated, her fiercely protective family wants the marriage to end, and Riley retreats beneath the weight of shame.
The result is not a conventional cheating romance. No consensual infidelity occurs between the central couple. The true conflict lies in violated consent, traumatic silence, damaged trust, and the consequences of allowing shame to speak louder than truth.
PUBLICATION DETAILS
| TITLE | Beginning of Goodbye |
| AUTHOR | Anamaria Deluna |
| SERIES | The Galveston Grace Series, Book One of Three |
| GENRE | Adult contemporary marriage-reconciliation romance |
| RELEASED | 2026 |
| FORMATS | Ebook, paperback, hardcover, and Audiobook |
| SERIES STATUS | Book One available; Books Two and Two in development |
When Silence Becomes the Real Threat
The photographs trigger the crisis, but silence is what nearly destroys Elisa and Riley. When Riley returns to their Galveston home, the chemistry between them remains unmistakable. Desire, however, cannot repair everything that has been fractured.
Riley must learn that victimization is not the same as guilt. Elisa must confront the difference between what she witnessed and what actually happened. Together, they must decide whether forgiveness is possible when the truth arrives only after months of emotional separation.
Deluna gives male sexual victimization meaningful space within an adult romance. Riley’s struggle is not simply about proving his faithfulness. It is about recognizing that what happened to him was not a choice and that remaining silent allowed the person responsible to maintain power over his life.
At the same time, the story does not dismiss Elisa’s pain. Even after the apparent betrayal is understood differently, the loneliness, confusion, and distance she experienced still have consequences. Their reconciliation must be earned through honesty, accountability, renewed intimacy, and the difficult decision to choose one another again.
Healing begins the moment you choose truth over silence and courage over fear.
ANAMARIA DELUNA
Galveston Is More Than a Backdrop
Galveston gives the novel an identity that extends beyond its romance. Its historic homes, palm-lined streets, open coastline, and storm-shaped atmosphere create a fitting setting for a marriage caught between darkness and light.
The island can appear warm and luminous one moment, then threatened by changing skies the next. That contrast mirrors Elisa and Riley’s relationship. The storm represents more than a traumatic event. It reflects suspicion, family pressure, shame, and emotional distance. The light becomes a symbol of truth, faith, and the possibility of rebuilding.
Deluna’s connection to Texas informs the setting. The Houston-based Latina author’s family roots in the state extend across generations, helping her bring regional atmosphere and cultural authenticity into the story. Her affection for the Texas coast can be felt throughout the novel, making Galveston part of the emotional experience rather than simply the place where events occur.
Where Mexican-American and Scottish Traditions Meet
The relationship between Elisa and Riley brings together two distinct family worlds. Elisa belongs to a close Mexican-American Catholic family that believes love should be protected, even when that protection becomes intrusive. Riley comes from a Scottish family shaped by its own traditions, expectations, loyalties, and unresolved history.
Family members offer warmth, humor, support, judgment, and sometimes far more involvement than either spouse would prefer. A destination wedding in Belize eventually brings old wounds and hidden tensions into the open, forcing private problems to unfold in front of the people most invested in their future.
This cultural dimension prevents the novel from becoming solely a story of marital pain. It also contains passion, faith, lively family humor, and the imperfect ways relatives attempt to help the people they love.
What Galveston Grace Really Means
Despite the series title, Grace is not the name of a central character. Grace is the emotional and spiritual idea connecting the books.
It represents forgiveness that does not ignore harm, faith that survives uncertainty, and the strength to move forward without pretending the past never happened. Beginning of Goodbye establishes this foundation by following imperfect people who carry wounds and must decide whether they are willing to grow beyond the versions of themselves shaped by fear.
The title does not ultimately signal the beginning of Elisa and Riley’s separation. It represents the beginning of their goodbye to secrecy, shame, false assumptions, destructive influences, and the damaged version of their marriage.
That emotional promise will continue beyond one couple. With two more Galveston Grace novels already in development, the series is building a community around love stories marked by storms, resilience, family, faith, and the grace to begin again.
Sunshine is promised. Storms are inevitable. Grace carries love through both.
THE GALVESTON GRACE SERIES
A New Voice in Emotionally Honest Romance
Deluna describes herself as a poetic prose writer drawn to emotional truths, complicated relationships, and characters who remain human even when they fall short of perfection.
With Beginning of Goodbye, she enters contemporary romance with a story that does not treat marriage as the finish line. Instead, marriage becomes the place where the most difficult work begins.
For readers drawn to emotionally layered reconciliation stories, cultural richness, second chances, and love that must survive more than a simple misunderstanding, Beginning of Goodbye offers more than a single reading experience. It offers the chance to enter the Galveston Grace Series at its origin and grow with it as the next two books arrive.
Your Invitation to Galveston
There is something special about discovering a series before every door has opened. Book One introduces the emotional language of Galveston Grace: storm-bruised love, complicated families, hard-earned forgiveness, and people who choose courage when silence would be easier.
Readers who begin now can become part of that unfolding world. Read or listen in the format that suits your life, share the moments that stay with you, follow Anamaria Deluna for updates, and return to Galveston when Books Two and Three make their way to readers.
Begin with Elisa and Riley. Stay for the stories Galveston has not told yet.
THE GALVESTON GRACE SERIES
| CONTENT NOTE The novel is intended for mature readers and contains explicit intimacy between a married couple, strong adult language, grief, depression, and themes involving non-consensual sexual assault. |
About Anamaria Deluna
Anamaria Deluna is a Latina author based in Houston, Texas. Her deep family roots in the Lone Star State inform the regional settings, cultural dynamics, and emotional atmosphere of her fiction.
She enjoys exploring the Texas coast and spending time with her family. Beginning of Goodbye is her debut romance novel and the opening installment of the Galveston Grace Series, with two additional books already in development.
Choose Your Format
Beginning of Goodbye is available beyond Amazon across major print, ebook, and audiobook platforms. Every red retailer name below is a clickable link.
| AMAZON Shop the ebook and available print editions. Shop on Amazon | BOOKSHOP.ORG Choose paperback, ebook, or hardcover while supporting independent bookstores. Shop on Bookshop.org | RAKUTEN KOBO Read the EPUB ebook through Kobo apps and devices. Read on Kobo |
| AUDIBLE Listen to the complete unabridged audiobook narrated by Grace Lawrence. Listen on Audible | GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS Purchase the audiobook or begin with a listening sample. Listen on Google Play | EVERAND Read the ebook and explore a digital preview. Read on Everand |
Join the Galveston Grace Community
Book One is only the beginning. Follow the author and explore the official website to receive series news, future-release updates, and new ways to step deeper into the Galveston Grace world.
| OFFICIAL WEBSITE Explore the novel, discover Anamaria’s world, and watch for news about the next two Galveston Grace books. Enter the Galveston Grace World | FACEBOOK COMMUNITY Follow Anamaria, share your reading experience, and receive updates as the series continues. Join Anamaria on Facebook |
| START AT THE BEGINNING Meet Elisa and Riley, choose the format that fits your life, and become part of Galveston Grace before the next two stories arrive. Begin Beginning of Goodbye Today |
