Families and sisters can be complicated…Jill Conroy is tricked by her sister into becoming the housekeeper and cook for the summer at Seashell Cottage where Greg Campbell and his nephew, Brody, have been hired to do maintenance projects on the house. Annoyed at first, Jill soon realizes how wonderful it is to be away from her home in New York and the memories of her deceased, emotionally … emotionally abusive husband.
Soon the magic of the beach heals Jill enough for her to decide to move to Florida permanently to make a new life for herself. Her part-time work at a summer camp and the promise of a new job as a third-grade teacher in the fall make it seem as if her future is set. But a visit from her sister, followed by her mother, reveals secrets that surprise them all. Jill learns to accept the idea of love not only from Brody but from his daughter, Kacy, as the summer brings even more surprises.
This book is a standalone novel that is one of others based at the Seashell Cottage on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Different stories, different characters, same location.
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Encouragingly enlightening emotionally touching story!
This book was a great summer read. It starts out with Jill having to run this cottage through the summer. When she gets there she finds out the workers are living there also. She learns she has to cook for them and also watch over a little girl. As it all goes secrets are revealed and even Jill which she has to figure them out to move on. It’s a long hot summer and it gets good. A very good story and a must read for summer.
“Disclosure I received this book for a honest review.”
The roles we are given in our families at an early age can affect us through the rest of our lives. Jill and Cristal don’t have a close relationship because their mother managed to keep them from being friends by always catering to Cristal and demeaning to Jill. She always referred to Cristal as the pretty one and Jill as the smart one. Now that they are adults, Jill feels she is just plain and normal and is a teacher while Cristal is a party girl who is always looking for a good time and expects everyone to cater to her. As the novel begins, Cristal has asked Jill to go to Florida from her home in upstate New York to house sit at Seashell cottage on the Gulf Coast while she and the owner go to Europe. Jill agrees, even while she is wondering what the catch is, and drives to Florida only to find out that the cottage is being renovated and she is supposed to clean and cook for the two men who are working there – one of whom is bringing his spoiled 8 year old daughter. She decides that it’s worth staying – the house is on the beach and she will still have a lot of free time. Plus she needs to get away from her home and the memories of her deceased abusive husband.
As the summer goes on, Jill begins to change and she stands up to her mother and gains more self confidence. She begins working in a summer camp that helps children learn how to feel better about themselves and it helps her as much as the kids. She has decided to change her whole life and start over again in Florida. When her sister and mother show up at Seashell cottage, she has to decide whether she will continue being just the smart one or whether she will remain being happy with the person that she is becoming.
This book has it all — a beautiful setting at the beach, a hunky guy doing renovations and a summer job at a campground. There is a bit of romance, a lot of family drama and a lot of changes for Jill during that summer. This is a great book with characters who made me smile. The entire book left me feeling happy!
Thanks to the author for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
Judith Keim did a remarkable job of putting together the reality that abuse is not just physical and romance! The journey of discovering oneself after being mentally abused is a hard journey to take and learning to trust your decisions and judgment even harder. This a wonderful story with great characters that each had their own life lessons and self to discover. This was a page turner and I couldn’t put the book down until it was finished! Loved it!
I love the author’s gift of describing each character in such a realistic manner. I felt I really knew them. It was nice to watch Jill grow in confidence.
This book explores family relationships and personal relationships. The main characters are good people who do good things in life.
A young woman comes to a small town to be a caretaker of injured older man,
A nephew and his daughter also came to help. They all work together to bring families closer and find happiness.
I could put myself in the place of the child, knew how she felt, learning to trust is a huge issue, but it all worked out well in the end,
I especially enjoyed this book after reading a couple of heavy books about WWII. This was a nice romance without getting hot and sexy.
Very good read!
Good read
I thought it was very entertaining and realistic. I can see sisters acting just that way.
Good story. Liked the characters and ends well.
I really enjoyed this story. It was great to learn about Jill’s family and how the 3 women resolved who they are as people and move forward in happier lives. It was interesting to watch
Brody is an interesting person and his issues seem resolved rather early.
Greg and Melanie and Susannah add interesting perspectives.
It felt that it got slow at some points and a bit to convoluted.
After reading detective mysteries, this was a refreshing change of pace.
Perfect for the beach!
Nice clean with no ugly words
This realistic story provided many hour of enjoyment. I enjoyed this story. Laughed and cry as story unfolded.
Awesome book. Awesome writer
So many books have predictable endings after the first chapter. This book had several ‘surprises’.