Synopsis:
In her brand-new series, Brenda Jackson welcomes you to Catalina Cove, where even the biggest heartbreaks can be healed…
In the wake of a devastating teen pregnancy that left her childless and heartbroken, Vashti Alcindor left Catalina Cove, Louisiana, with no plans to return. Now, over a decade later, Vashti reluctantly finds herself back in her hometown after inheriting her aunt’s B and B. Her homecoming gets off to a rocky start when the new sheriff, Sawyer Grisham, pulls her over for speeding, and things go downhill from there.
The B and B, a place she’d always found refuge in when it seemed like the whole world was against her, has fallen into disrepair. When a surprising benefactor encourages Vashti to reopen the B and B, Vashti embraces a fresh start, and soon old hurts begin to fade as she makes new memories with the town—and its handsome sheriff…
But some pasts are too big to escape, and when a bombshell of a secret changes everything she thought was true, Vashti is left reeling. With Sawyer and his teenage daughter determined to see her through the storm, though, she’s learning family isn’t always a matter of blood—sometimes it’s a matter of heart.
Review:
Love in Catalina Cove is the first book in a new series–and wow, the location is fantastic! Sand, sun, blueberries (in muffins or not)…really, I’m not sure what more I could ask for 😉
Vashti and Sawyer’s romance is a somewhat slow-moving one–she’s been burned before and is very hesitant (read: she’s not going to do it, ever) to enter into anything permanent again, and he’s a widower who hasn’t dated since his wife’s death–so though they do both feel a pull toward each other pretty much from the first time they meet, there’s a lot of back-and-forth and hot-and-cold to get through before they let themselves be together, and at times it’s a little frustrating. Ultimately, their story is very sweet–though there are quite a few plot twists along the way (the characters don’t see them coming, but readers probably will) that rely on some pretty big coincidences.
All’s well that ends well, though, and there are HEAs all around here. It’ll be fun to see what the characters from this story are up to in future series books.
Now–can I take a vacation to Catalina Cove? I hear Shelby by the Sea is a nice B&B to try… 😉
Rating: 3 1/2 stars / B-
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
About the author:
In 1994, Brenda Jackson’s first novel, Tonight and Forever, was released. Since then she has had more than 100 novels and novellas published (the first African-American author to accomplish such a feat) and has over 3 million books in print.
A native of Jacksonville, Florida, Brenda is the first African-American author to have a book published by Harlequin Desire and the first African-American romance author to make the New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller lists within the series romance genre.
In 2012, Brenda received the Romance Writers of America’s Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award—one of the highest literary awards a romance author can receive. In 2013, she was recognized by the mayor and the city of Jacksonville as being a Trailblazer in the literary field.
Thanks for being on the tour!