“There’s a warm embrace that wraps around you when you hit the foot of the bridge to Long Beach Island. Most people know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s like a blanket on a cold winter day. I’ve been lucky to feel that embrace every time I step behind the bar.”

So says Debra Carroll. After 42 years behind the bar, 23 of them in Surf City, Carroll finally did what generations of customers insisted she should: She wrote the book.