Emerson “Em” Jordan always wanted a Valentine’s Day wedding. But after being dumped by her boyfriend, she spends the holiday at Seashell Cottage on the Gulf Coast of Florida with Devin Gerard, a family friend who has no interest in her or any other woman and is instead concentrating on his pediatric medical practice and continuing medical missions in Costa Rica.Em, who’s always wanted a large … wanted a large family, doesn’t mind his disinterest. At thirty-two, she’s decided she doesn’t need a husband to have a child or to adopt one. First, she’s going to fulfill her dream of setting up her own landscape design business in upstate New York and has promised to continue to help run her grandmother’s flower shop.
It isn’t until Em and Devin become friends that Em realizes she might want more than friendship from him. But with his work in Miami and Costa Rica and her busy life in New York, it’s out of the question until something happens that changes everything, even a couple of hearts.
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I received an ARC to write a review. This book just made my heart soar. There was so much to this story. Em who had always dreamed of getting engaged on Valentine’s Day and getting married the next Valentine’s Day thought it was going to happen. Instead of proposing. her boyfriend broke up with her. So to get through the next Valentine’s Day her sister suggests she go on vacation and suggests she go to Seashell Cottage where she had gotten married. Em was going to go with her friend but backed out so her sister said, she and her husband’s friend Devin had been working a lot and she suggested he take a vacation and he would go to Seashell Cottage with her, strictly as friends, nothing more.
Once there, a friendship blossomed.
They share with us their journey but the book is about so much more. There is Em’s Gran who owns the flower shop and she has so much spunk. I hope I am like her when I get to be that age. It is about Devin being a doctor who goes to Puerto Rico to work down there to help the ones who need it. It is about adoption and living in a small town where some have to learn that people are different and learn acceptance. This book has the love of a family that is there for each.
There is so much feeling coming through the writing of this book. The book was so wonderful but she put it over the top when she brought Salty Key Inn and Gavin’s Restaurant into the book. I have so many memories from the Salty Key Inn series. I took a lot away with me after reading the series and still think about the story and characters. I am taking a lot away with the Seashell Cottage. So many times books are for a certain age but Judith Keim writes books so people of any age will love them. I could see a little of me in Em when I was younger and I so do want to be like her Gran. I love this book and hope everyone who reads this review will buy the book and read it.
Judith Keim writes her characters with such a connection to the reader that you immediately feel like the characters are your family, your sister , your grandmother and your friends.
Em Jordan is feeling low when her boyfriend (whom she thought would propose) broke up with her.
To help her though Valentine’s Day she books a rental at Seashell Cottage.
To help with expenses and through a strange turn of events , she finds herself sharing the cottage with Doctor Devin a very handsome friend of her brother in law
Em starts to live her life on her own terms and make her dreams come true , starting a new business, moving into a new condo, thinking about adopting , all while remaining telephone buddies with Devin and having a friendship, instead of a relationship, that’s getting stronger every phone call and every surprise visit.
This was such a fun read and there is real magic in the seashell Cottage !
This story started off really well, but I got lost somewhere in the middle. I picked it back up when Devin comes back and commits himself to Em. The story goes on from there without a real climax to the book. The plot was well thought, but the story could have been put together without all the long boring parts that had nothing to do with the couple.
Change of Heart by Judith Keim is the second book in the Seashell Cottage Series. I did not read the first book in this series and I did not have any issues. This can very well be read as a standalone. Once I started I did not want to stop reading until I had turned the last page. I was a very quick and easy read. There were surprises, twists and turns that kept me turning the pages. The characters were well defined, likeable and realistic. The story was very well written. I love stories by Judith Keim and I am looking forward to seeing what she has in store for us next.
Change of Heart (Seashell Cottage #2) – This is a well written romance full of the importance of family and doing the right thing. The characters were interesting and I really liked the grandmother and Devon the love interest. I did like the way the couple’s relationship grew from strangers to good friends to lovers. None of that stupid “by the third date”, then I didn’t know he was that kind of person. I contacted the author to review her books and received this book through Booksprout. 4*
Going Home (Chandler Hill #1) – I have another new author that I enjoy reading. This is my first read and I love it! The story lines involved in the telling of this young woman’s life weaves a fabric of love, despair, happiness, fear and always the importance of family.
What she overcomes the first nineteen years of her life is heartbreaking and heartwarming, and what she accomplishes throughout her life is inspiring. The emotions run the gamut through the good and the bad and the perfect. Expect tears, laughter, doubts, aspirations, romance and love. Know there’s deception and disappointment, too.
I knew when Lettie made a decision at the end of the book, that there would be a deception and a major problem to quickly rise it’s ugliness. Other than a couple of deceivers, perfect in their roles, there wasn’t a character I disliked or didn’t care about. Every character brought a richness and depth to this well thought out, tightly woven tapestry of a life that ran through the peaks and valley and became a wonderful, loving person.
I enjoyed the author’s easy to read writing style, the variances in her characters and their realistic dialogs along with the vivid descriptions that painted pictures in my imagination of all the good, the bad and the beautiful surroundings and loving people. If you love Binchy, Pilscher, Grainger and their company, you’ll love this book as much as I do. I found this book on Booksprout. 5*