✩✩✩
When Marina Moore’s life blows up on national television, she seeks refuge at her grandmother’s beach house called the Coral Cottage. Now in her mid-forties with children in college, Marina is in dire need of her grandmother's gutsy advice to a well-lived life. Marina meets an old friend, Ivy Bay, proprietor of the Seabreeze Inn, who encourages her to share her love of food at the local farmer’s market. Soon Marina’s sister Kai arrives on a summer break from her musical theater troupe. Together, the sisters discover new paths bound to change them forever. If only those changes didn’t require such long leaps of faith.
Jack Ventana, a newspaper writer and confirmed bachelor nomad, is on a six-month sabbatical to write his first book. The only company he wants is his inquisitive Labrador Retriever puppy, but when he receives a call from an old colleague, he finds his life altered in ways he never imagined—including the prospect of romance.
What began as a short, reclusive holiday is destined to change Marina’s life, especially when Jack’s research uncovers her grandmother Ginger’s hidden past. Join the fun in Summer Beach, where the bonds of friendship and love prove unbreakable.
Genre: contemporary romance
Publication date: July 2020
Mature content: no
Review: Unfortunately I didn't like this book very much. It's not overly long but there's so much happening at the same time, so many characters, that it's easy to get lost. Ginger ends up being the most interesting character of all, but even then she seems way too perfect, way too much to be true.
I also couldn’t connect with Marina, and I disliked her right from the start. She’s a 45 year old woman that has to be chastised by her grandmother for being rude to a guest - what more can I say? She spends half the book being rude - or at least unfriendly- to a lot of people, some of them just trying to help or be friendly. She only manages to start her business because her sister steps in - otherwise no matter how good has food was, no one would try it in the first place. Even to her own children she's brusque and unsupportive. Later she apologises, only to repeat the pattern again. She's a journalist with zero people skills and it sort of explained why she lost her job in the first place...
Marina and Jack's romantic involvement is a mystery to me. Jack starts to wonder if she's the one who he will spend the rest of his life with after they talked about half a dozen times - and in most of those times Marina was being - yes, you guessed - rude. No idea how that came to be love.
I liked the small beach town vibe of the book, though, so maybe I will give the next book in the series a try, but I don't actively recommend Coral Cottage.
Happy readings!
Comments
Post a Comment