The Cafe at Beach End (Cape Sanctuary, #5)
RaeAnne Thayne
For fans of Debbie Macomber and Susan Wiggs, an emotional story of starting over and reclaiming happiness. When Meredith Collins was a child, the little beach town of Cape Sanctuary lived up to its name. Spending summers there with her grandmother, Meredith finally felt safe and loved. Now she’s returning in disgrace. Her late ex-husband swindled investors out of millions of dollars and made Meredith a figure of scorn—though she knew nothing about his scheme. But she still has the beach cottage she inherited from her grandmother and half ownership of the local café. It’s a place to work and earn a little money. That’s if her cousin, Tori, will let her through the door. Once, Tori and Meredith were as close as sisters—until Meredith chose her neglectful parents’ expectations over their bond. Now widowed with a teenage daughter, Tori isn’t setting out a welcome mat for the woman who let her down so badly. While Meredith tries to make a fresh start, she is drawn to a mysterious writer renting the cottage next door. Liam Byrne’s kindness is a balm, though she worries he might not be so friendly if he knew who she was. But Liam has his own secret and a mission that will help Meredith confront her past—and maybe, claim a surprising future…
Publication Year: 2023
No posts yet
Kick off the convo with a theory, question, musing, or update
Your rating:
I’m starting to think it’s me. Maybe it’s a bit of a reading slump. I just didn’t feel connected to these characters. They are great characters with interesting backgrounds, but I felt the author was only giving us the most surface information. Oddly enough, I still felt the connections amongst them all even without getting to the soul of them as I am used to with RaeAnne Thayne
There are a lot of stories in this one, as is often the case with this author. Two love stories are happening; Meredith and Liam, Tori and Sam. There is also another relationship being built, actually rebuilt, between Meredith and Tori. Cousins who spent every summer together growing up who have not only grown apart but have a lot of animosity between them. We don’t see as much of Sam as I would have liked, but we get perspectives from the other three characters.
I’ll give a warning here that one of the romantic pairings is a woman and her deceased husband’s brother. I know that bothers a lot of people so wanted to put it out there since it’s not really a spoiler. Tori has been a widow for many years and Sam didn’t live nearby until recently, but it’s still a sticky situation for some readers.
What I would have loved to see in this story is either a stronger emphasis on Tori and Meredith working through their problems or a stronger emphasis on the romantic pairings. As it is, I felt each of the various relationships was only given a token amount of time. So while I was invested in the characters, I still felt I was being cheated out of something.
Generally, I adore this author, even her stories that lean a bit more toward the women’s fiction end. I just wanted more.
**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**
0
© 2024 Pagebound