An emotional tale of a magical inn, a wedding gone terribly wrong and a woman searching for a second chance.
Alice has hit rock bottom. Once a Michelin-starred chef, she is now drowning in debt, working the line at a chain restaurant and drinking too much. The last person she ever expected to come knocking with a job offer and a fresh start is her ex-husband, Gabe.
Gabe built The Riverview Inn with his dad and brother. Now, the grand lodge in the Catskill Mountains is nearly ready for the opening event—a society wedding for 500 guests.
The only thing missing is a chef. That’s where Alice comes in.
The deal Gabe offers Alice is too good to pass up: help him get through this wedding and he’ll get her out of debt.
But nothing is simple at The Riverview and soon she’s dealing with a bridezilla, pink swans, a series of mysterious letters and a teenage delinquent. Through it all, one thing is clear—her feelings for Gabe burn as bright as they always have.
When the wedding is over, will Alice walk away for good? Or will The Riverview work its magic on Alice and Gabe?
Review:
Goodness, what an emotional start to the series! Books 2 and 3 cannot come out soon enough…
Truth time: I didn’t really read the blurb for this book before picking it up–I just saw “Molly O’Keefe” and “first in a series” and got grabby hands. So the soft, pretty cover didn’t quite prepare me for the intense drama and desperation that was inside–but that’s okay.
I couldn’t put this book down!
Gabe and Alice’s push and pull, the separate secrets that Max (Gabe’s brother) and Patrick (their father) are keeping from everyone else, not to mention Alice’s struggles with alcoholism–so much is going on here; as much as I wanted Gabe and Alice to resolve their differences, I still wasn’t ready to see this book end.
This would have been a 4 1/2 star read except for two details: first, that Alice’s struggle with substance abuse felt totally realistic until it disappeared, and second, we barely got to enjoy Gabe and Alice finally choosing to be together again when bam! the story ended. Knowing that this is the start of a trilogy gives me hope, though, that seeing the two of them together in the next two books will show us that this time, those two crazy kids are going to make it.
Rating; 4 stars / A-
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.