Review: Shoreline Drive

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Dr. Ben Faulkner is a veterinarian on warm, welcoming Sanctuary Island, a refuge for wild horses. Though he's dedicated his life to healing animals and rescuing the ones no one wants, Ben is nursing deep wounds of his own. After tragedy tore his family apart, he gave up his dreams of finding happiness long ago…until Merry Preston arrives on the island. Vivacious, friendly, and instantly lovable, Merry is everything Ben is not. She's also nine months pregnant and attempting to carve out a new life for herself and her unborn child.
Though Ben tries to keep his distance, when a raging storm cuts them off from the mainland, he's forced to help bring her new baby into the world. It's a harrowing experience that leaves him with one great certainty: I want these two to be my family. Seeing his opportunity, he makes a dramatic proposal to the young mother: a marriage of convenience. If Merry marries him, he'll draw up a contract naming her son as his heir and promising to provide for them both. But as they'll learn, love is more than a business proposition…and it'll take all the magic hidden in Sanctuary Island to turn Ben's proposal into something real and lasting.

Genre: contemporary romance

Publishing date: January 2014

Offensive content: there are sexual references and sexual innuendo throughout the book, but no graphic sex scenes. 

Review: 

Shoreline Drive, by Lily Everett is is a wonderful story and one of the most touching romances I've read lately. I the book prologue, Ben helps to deliver Merry's baby, and the rest of the story unfolds from there. Merry is a single mother, barely past her teens (or so Ben's mother comments later in the book - she's actually 23) but I admired her courage and determination to create the best life possible for her son. Even if it meant entering into a marriage arrangement with Ben. 

And while Ben, older and supposedly wiser, has is own personal reasons for wanting what was supposed to be a convenience marriage, we know right from the prologue that he was attracted to Merry even before her baby was born. Still, he was committed to be a loyal husband to Merry and respect her wishes, and to be a loving adoptive father to little Alex. I was half in love with Ben myself by mid-book. And the story of how his first marriage ended after the death of his biological baby daughter actually made me cry and want to hug my own children a little tighter.

Of course the end is somewhat predictable, but there are a few unexpected twists, such as Ben's parents showing up (I definitely did not like them!) and a visit from Alex's biological father. Still, happily ever after, when it comes, is totally fulfilling and I could not help admiring Ben, Merry and the new family they had both created. 

I was secretly hoping that they would get another baby of their own, but it never happens. It was the only thing I would have changed in the story if I could, as having a healthy biological child would have helped release Ben from the guilt of his his previous dramatic experience.

Still, this is the perfect book to curl up with in a rainy afternoon and you will not regret reading it!

Happy readings,