Review: Sea Glass Island

Sea Glass Island (An Ocean Breeze Novel)

About the Book:

Under summer skies, New York Times bestselling author Sherryl Woods evokes family, friendship and heartfelt emotion

With her two younger sisters heading for the altar, will Samantha Castle exchange old dreams for new ones? Lately she'd rather be on the North Carolina coast with family than in New York with agents and actors. Though she vows not to let her teenage crush on Ethan Cole influence her decision, it's hard to ignore her feelings for the local war hero.

Ethan lost more than his leg in Afghanistan. He lost his belief in love. Even being surrounded by couples intent on capturing happily-ever-after won't open this jaded doctor's heart. It's going to take a sexy, determined woman—one who won't take no for an answer.

My Comments:

When we are young we think we can do anything; as we grow older we realize that we can't.  That's not a bad attitude, it's reality.  When pursing dreams, whether personal or professional, most of us hit a ceiling at some point.  Some are able to be happy under that ceiling; others realize they need to find a new house.  Samantha has always wanted to be an actress and has done well enough at it to keep herself fed (well, between acting and waiting tables).  However, she's getting older and knows that for most it is a  young woman's game.  I enjoyed watching her look at different options and finally settle on the one that was best for her.

I liked Ethan too.  He lost some of his dreams with his leg but now is learning to dream again.

They get intimate but we are outside the door.

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade:  B.

Review: Wind Chime Point

Wind Chime Point (Ocean Breeze)

About the Book:

Facing a personal crisis, ambitious and driven Gabriella Castle retreats to the welcoming arms of her family. Everything she's worked for has been yanked out from under her, and she seeks the serenity of her grandmother's home on the North Carolina coast. With difficult decisions to make about her future, the last thing she wants is an unexpected love.

Wade Johnson fell for Gabi the first time he saw her. It's not the only time he's found himself in the role of knight in shining armor, but Gabi isn't looking for a rescuer. To get her to stay, Wade will need a whole lot of patience and gentle persuasion…and maybe the soothing sound of wind chimes on a summer breeze.

My Comments:

I really liked Wade; Gabi, not so much so.  Gabi had spent her adult life in a career chosen to garner the approval of her emotionally distant father.  She had been dating a man who barely missed her, and who she barely missed when she left town for an extended family visit.  When she loses the job and the man in short succession over the same incident, she re-evaluates the type of life she wants to lead.  Still, at least to me, she comes across as "me" "me" "me".  Wade on the other hand, has spent his life doing for others and in the process of course has built a solid network of people on whom he can depend.  

This book is the second in a series of at least three books which are set in a North Carolina beach community.  There is no explicit intimate activity.  It is definitely a "beach read"--breezy, fun, light. 

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade:  B.

Christmas in September: My Review of An O'Brien Family Christmas

An O'Brien Family Christmas (Chesapeake Shores)

About the Book:

New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author SHERRYL WOODS takes the O’Briens to Ireland for a family Christmas they’ll never forget!


Dating Matthew O’Brien—a playboy and a younger man—cost Laila Riley her career and her parents’ respect. A high price, even for love—and when Laila decides it was just a fling, she breaks it off , despite Matthew’s objections.


But the O’Brien family has other ideas, and they conspire to get Laila to join them on a Dublin holiday. It’s a
great time to get away from it all, but Laila has reservations about the trip. Matthew’s bound to be there, and she’s far from immune. What if she can’t resist temptation?


Meanwhile, the O’Briens are in an uproar over matriarch Nell’s unexpected romance with an old flame. Will she follow her heart despite the risks? And will Laila discover that some risks are actually once-in-a-lifetime
opportunities?


My Comments:
I enjoyed this heartwarming almost clean Christmas romance.  Though one of many Sherryl Woods books about the large O'Brien clan of Chesapeake Shores, it reads well as a stand-alone (though it does seem a little  busy at times with practically useless characters).  Laila is a controlled person, the steady reliable responsible accountant whose life has been turned upside down by a younger man.  She gave up so much for him, and then bolted away from him.  In the tradition of large loving meddling Irish families, his family members plot to bring them back together.


One thing I liked about the story is that they realized that their early relationship had been spent mostly in bed, and when they got back together, chose to abstain from that activity for a while so they could work on other aspects of their relationship.  Alas, they didn't manage to remain chaste until marriage, but it was nice to read a romance that crackled with sexual energy even though the couple wasn't going to bed.  However, when they did go to bed, we didn't get to watch.  


I also liked the fact that Laila and Matthew were, in some ways, opposites.  She needed to learn to relax, to be spontaneous, to have fun without counting the cost ahead of time.  He needed to take life a little more seriously.  Watching them grow together was fun.


One small complaint--they were in Ireland, going to a church where "services" were presided over by a priest.  I assume they went to Mass, so why not call it Mass?


I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade:  B+

Beach Lane: My Review

Beach Lane (Chesapeake Shores)

About the Book:

In the close-knit community of Chesapeake Shores, Maryland, Susie O’Brien and Mack Franklin’s “not dating” claim befuddles everyone, especially since the two spend every spare minute together. Susie’s thrilled when their friendship finally heats up. Then, just when happily-ever-after seems within reach, Mack loses the job he loves and Susie faces a devastating diagnosis. But O’Briens always unite in a crisis. Even her cousin Jess, Susie’s rival for most of their lives, becomes her staunchest supporter — especially when Mack’s former lover comes to town. The stakes are higher than ever before, but Susie’s definitely up to the challenge...as long as Mack’s right there by her side.

My Comments:

Well, they didn't end up in bed before they got married--but they got married right after they decided they were more than just friends.  Actually, this was a little more serious than the other books in the series since the basic complication to the romance is that Susie is diagnosed with ovarian cancer.  Still, Beach Lane focuses on the positive and on the love Susie has in her life, not only from Mack but from the whole O'Brien clan.  It is the kind of book that is perfect for reading on the back porch while watching the kids play in the water.  While not minimizing the hardship of treatments for ovarian cancer, Sherryl Woods shows Susie rising above the discomfort they cause.  Grade B.

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  

Moonlight Cove: My Review

Moonlight Cove (Chesapeake Shores)

About the Book:

Jess O’Brien has overcome a lot — the challenges of attention deficit disorder, the near bankruptcy of her beloved Inn at Eagle Point and her self-perception as a screwup in a family of overachievers. Now she’s ready to share the future with a man. Her friends persuade her to join a dating service — but she gets no takers! Which is fine with her childhood friend, psychologist Will Lincoln, who’s already chosen the perfect man for Jess: himself. Will has loved Jess practically forever. He knows her faults and her strengths. But for all Will’s sincerity and charm, Jess fears he views her as some psychological case study. With her family and the town of Chesapeake Shores behind him, Will finally makes his case. But is it enough to convince Jess to take the risk of a lifetime?

My Comments:

The guy next door, the one who has always been there, but has never been seen in "that" light; the girl who, for a variety of reasons, isn't sure she is lovable--or that she would want to be loved by anyone who would love her; can they make it work?  While Jess and Will are the main couple in this book, they share time with two other couples, one of which, like them, consists of folks who have known and cared for each other for a long time, but who have never made the move to coupledom. 

This is a sweet story, pretty typical of those Sherryl Woods writes.  The characters all have some connection to the O'Brien clan of whom Woods has written in other books, and given the unresolved nature of two of the relationships in this book, I suspect we'll see more of them.  

It is mass-market romance, and as such, no one waits until marriage to hop into bed--though Will makes it clear that intimacy is more to him than scratching an itch, that going to bed with him means she won't get rid of him.  However, they pretty much leave us outside the door when they head to bed.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available to me via NetGalley.  Grade:  B

Review: Driftwood Cottage

Driftwood Cottage (Chesapeake Shores)

About the Book:
Single mom Heather Donovan’s dreams of home and family are tantalizingly within reach when she settles in Chesapeake Shores. The welcoming arms of the boisterous, loving O’Brien clan embrace her and her son. But accepting their support seems to further alienate her son’s father, Connor O’Brien. His parents’ divorce and his career as a high-powered divorce attorney have left him jaded about marriage.

Then everything changes. Will the possibility of a future without Heather make Connor look at love and his career differently? Heather’s just about given up on her old dreams—of love, of familyand especially of Driftwood Cottage, the home she secretly wishes were hers. It’s going to take a lot of persuasion—and some help from the O’Brien family—to make Heather believe that some dreams are worth fighting for.

My Comments:

As you might guess from the cover, this book is a perfect beach read--light, fluffy, totally devoid of substance, but fun nevertheless.  Heather and Connor love each other, but he doesn't believe in marriage--its just a piece of paper after all.  She was ok with that until they had a son.  When he wouldn't marry her, she moved out.  Do you think I ever doubted how it would end?

As noted in the link above, this book is part of a series.  I haven't read any of the others, but my guess is that they all involve the large clan to which Connor belongs as this book spent too much time on characters who had too little to do with this story for me not to figure there was backstory told elsewhere, but those folks didn't take take the focus off Heather and Connor in this story.  My only complaint is that until  a crisis happened, Heather and Connor seemed to be repeating the same dialogue--the day was different but the action the same. 

This is mass-market romance.  Since Heather and Connor aren't married and have a child, it is safe to say they were intimate before marriage.  There is one intimate scene in the book, and I'd rate it as PG.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available through NetGalley.  I was under no obligation to read, review or positively review this book.  Grade:  B-.  

Sherryl Woods' Sweet Magnolias

Sweet Tea at Sunrise (Sweet Magnolias)                                  

     Honeysuckle Summer (Sweet Magnolias)

Sherryl Woods has a whole series of books set in the small town of Serenity, South Carolina.  All feature the Sweet Magnolias, a group of 40-something women who have been friends since childhood, and the new generation, their 20-something daughters.  These two books appear  to be the last in the series and I got them from my local used paperback store.

Honeysuckle Summer (Sweet Magnolias) is about Raylene, who has recently returned to Serenity follow a marriage to an abusive society doctor.  She is living with Sarah and helping take care of the kids and house--except that she can't be left alone with the kids because she has panic attacks if she leaves the house.  Well, the sitter leaves for a minute, and one of the kids gets out and has to be rescued by a handsome new sheriff's deputy.  We follow Raylene as she heals from agoraphobia and learns to trust Carter, the sheriff's deputy.

Sweet Tea at Sunrise (Sweet Magnolias) is about Sarah.  She wasn't physically abused when she was married to a cotton-mill heir, but she took an emotional battering from his parents and from him.  Now she and the kids are back in Serenity and she is working in the diner where she meets Travis.  Travis just bought a radio station which will broadcast in town.  After watching Sarah with the customers he decides he wants her to host his morning show and....

Both of these are sweet predictable romances that deal with women who have suffered in past relationships.  Raylene's ex is truly a bad guy; but these stories made me wish Sarah and her ex would give it one more try.  Both are mass-market romances where couples end up in bed before marriage--even before things get real serious.  However, if you had no idea what a man and woman do in bed together, you'd be no more educated after this book than before, except that you'd know it included getting naked.  Grade:  B-
           

Review: Amazing Gracie by Sherryl Woods

Amazing Gracie

While perusing the bargain rack at my local used paperback store Amazing Gracie caught my eye.  It is a sweet romance about Gracie, a hotel executive and workaholic who quits her job because she has a different vision for the luxury hotel than does her new boss.  She goes to a small town in Virginia, a place she had vacationed with her family once, as a child.  She realizes that she has no one who is important to her--no family, no close friends.  

While there she falls in love with an old-fashioned Victorian house, which she decides to turn into a bed-and-breakfast.  The only problem is that the property manager, Kevin, won't tell her who owns it (he does) but they start spending time together.  Guess what happens?  

The book has subplots about Kevin's cousins and Gracie's ex-boss but I can't say there was ever any real tension in the book or any doubt about the ending.  I really liked Kevin's aunt, who used to own the house.  All in all, I'd characterize the writing style as somewhere between fair and good and the book as a happy fluffy read.  Grade:  B-