MY THOUGHTS:
I thoroughly enjoyed Memories of the Cottage by the Sea by Rebecca Alexander. Charlotte Kingston is in dire need to make some major changes in her life. After her long-term relationship comes to an end, she is left to try to find a way to put her broken heart back together. A job comes up on the beautiful Morwren Island. She hasn’t been back there since her grandmother’s funeral. She jumps at the opportunity to leave her life behind and put as much distance as possible between herself and her ex-boyfriend, Zach. When she arrives on the isolated, picturesque Scillian Isle, she immediately remembers her time there as a child, living with her grandmother. Now she wants to know everything she possibly can about this beautiful island. She was hired to go there and close the local school, but she also knows that this is the change she needs in her life. The more she discovers about the island and the people living there, the more she realizes it’s exactly the perfect place for her. When she finds a bundle of letters that her grandmother wrote, from World War 2, Charlotte had a new reason to be there, to decode the letters. The letters make known many truths, and a surprising secret. This heart-warming and inspiring story of family, courage, second chances and hope is just what I needed.
The past meets the present in this wonderfully written dual timeline. I found the timelines to be so well written, and the author didn’t cause any confusion in writing them. I loved this rapid read that I absolutely could not bring myself to put it down once I began reading it. I love the way this author, Rebecca Alexander, writes her stories. The story flows so well that I thought I was watching a movie on the big screen instead of reading a book. What a great movie this would be. I am loving this series, and I can’t wait for the third book to be released. I enjoyed it very much and I highly recommend it.
DESCRIPTION:
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: January 18, 2023
Pages: 355
Buy on Amazon
As she inhales the salty sea air, Charlotte glimpses the island on the horizon. Seeing it after all these years still sends a shiver down her spine. Should she be returning to this place?
When teacher Charlotte Kingston is sent to close a school on an isolated Scilly Isle, it is her first time on the island since summer holidays spent there with her grandparents. But with a newly broken heart, she’s desperate to travel as far from her life on the mainland as possible.
Not long after she arrives, two visiting children find themselves in need of a place to stay when their grandmother falls ill. When Charlotte agrees to take care of the boys, she suddenly has a reason to keep the school open a little longer. With a renewed sense of purpose, Charlotte begins to connect with the local islanders who tell her more about her family.
Intrigued, Charlotte decides to decode her grandmother’s old letters from the Second World War. They reveal a story of a forbidden love that defied the darkness of war, and of a beautiful, brave young man who would risk everything for his country, even if meant losing the woman he loved…
Just as Charlotte realises the secret will change her life forever, the children’s handsome, enigmatic stepfather, Ash, arrives to take care of them. But Charlotte doesn’t trust him – he left the boys once before, why wouldn’t he do it again? But as the tension grows between them, Charlotte feels an attraction developing, too. And although she can’t stop thinking about Ash, and his soft, full lips, she’s afraid to open her heart again.
But rereading her grandmother’s story, Charlotte realises there is courage and redemption among the pages. Is this a sign that everyone deserves a second chance, maybe even Ash? And, if she is brave enough to let him in, will she be able to put her fractured heart back together once and for all?
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