Love comes when you least expect it…
Tressa Buckland likes her quiet life in Port Lowdy, with its cobbled streets and colourful terraced houses overlooking the sea. Her job at the local paper allows her to pursue her art in her free time, with no one but her tabby cat Ginger Pickles to mind her in Mermaid Terrace. But then the owner of the paper is called away on an emergency, and it’s up … away on an emergency, and it’s up to Tressa to run the paper for six months. Her first task: find a new part-time journalist.
Dan Byrne is the angriest man in Ireland – or so the readers of his very successful column, ‘Dan takes on the world’, think. But after a story goes south and he loses his job in Dublin, Dan has no choice but to start afresh. When an opportunity comes up in sleepy Cornwall, Dan and his Golden Retriever Ritchie set off for a new adventure.
For Tressa, Dan’s arrival to Port Lowdy changes everything. Tressa tries not to look too deeply at her own life, but Dan sees a story to uncover in absolutely everyone – even her. The two of them couldn’t be more different… yet, if they can find a way to work together, they may just breathe new life and joy into this sleepy seaside village.
Finding Love at Mermaid Terrace is a heartwarming new village romance about the power of love and kindness, from the bestselling author of Starting Over at Acorn Cottage.
What people are saying about Kate Forster:
‘Charming and totally absorbing … I could not put this down!’ Holly Martin on Starting Over at Acorn Cottage
‘This beautifully descriptive and touching story about love and hope is fabulous sunshine reading’ Closer
‘A lovely get-away-from-it-all read’ Red
‘Loved it, loved it, loved it’ – 5* reader review
‘Lovely small town Cornish romance, you can almost hear the sound of the sea’ – 5* reader review
‘Simply amazing. Reading this book was a total happy surprise … Some beautiful, raw and honest emotions really pulled at my heartstrings’ – 5* reader review
‘I absolutely loved this book. Set in an idyllic sounding seaside village. I genuinely couldn’t put this book down, It really pulled me in from the start’ – 5* reader review
‘This book was ideal for an afternoon’s escape, I could just see myself on that beach! A great read’ – 5* reader review
‘In the midst of a crazy January, this book was such a great escape … There was enough drama and heartache to bring tears to your eyes’ – 5* reader review
‘A genuine feel-good book. Lots of different story lines to keep you interested with a fabulous, heart-warming ending. Loved it’ – 5* reader review
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Favorite Quotes:
She had a voice like sandpaper and an accent that could have shucked an oyster but her eyes were kind and she smiled at him like she meant it.
He’s very handsome… Even a nun would have a little squirm if she was sitting opposite that man.
‘I could sue you.’ ‘Get in line,’ he said. ‘But be warned all I have is my shitty Subaru and Ritchie, and both of them have dodgy exhausts, quite smelly with the wrong fuel.’
She wants to be home and she’s moping around here like an egg with no yolk.
I missed the smell of the sea… Mum’s house smells like potpourri and disappointment in me.
My Review:
This was a fun and cleverly amusing and enticing read packed with oddly compelling, complex, and endearingly quirky characters. I was fully consumed from start to finish and reveled in the deft author’s agile and wry levity, insightful observations, and thoughtful and perceptive narrative. Ms. Forster’s writing hit all the feels and was slyly emotive and absorbing. My attention and interest never lagged, as the various storylines were equally engaging whether humorous, angsty, or heart squeezing. She has mad skills.
These characters are so damaged in so many ways, but their trauma and flaws make them into fascinating characters that you root for even when they annoy the crap out of you! Tressa lives in Port Lowdy and happily enjoys her life making paintings that she never shows anyone and assisting at the newspaper and being a part of this tiny village that is almost stuck in time. She also gets attacked by her cat on a regular basis, avoids her toxic parents, and refuses to deal with any of her past trauma. In blows the new journalist Dan who is licking his wounds after finally getting taken down from his angriest man in Ireland perch. His dog Ritchie and singing Lionel Ritchie songs are pretty much the only things that bring him joy. Can Tressa and Dan learn how to trust and love and heal in this picturesque village in the middle of nowhere?
Overall I really enjoyed this book (although I really did get royally annoyed at the characters at times). It was fun but also hard and at times heartbreaking. I would also like to add that the secondary characters are also beautifully written and thoughtful with such depth.
This is a lovely and beautiful book. Tressa is an artist who works as a photographer for a local paper. When the owner has a family emergency, she is in charge of finding a new journalist. Dan needs a place to stay and a new beginning after losing his job and his house. They have amazing chemistry from the start but different points of view about what’s best for the newspaper.
This book almost broke my heart. There are many sad moments, and both Tressa and Dan have a lot to go through to find their happy ending. This story is like a journey you think is going to be easy and relaxing, but instead is full of obstacles and challenges, but at the end you feel you are so much better because of it. It’s so emotional in a heartbreaking kind of way but romantic and sweet. The side characters are amazing and I’d love to live in such a special place with so many great people.
I’ve received an ARC of this book and all the opinions are my own.
Some books are like a bowl of in-season blueberries. You want to savor it. Each page you turn is like picking up one blueberry on your spoon. You’re never sure if it will be sweet or a little tart, but it doesn’t matter, because you know that it will be good. For me, “Finding Love at Mermaid Terrace” was like that bowl of blueberries. Unlike some other books, I didn’t want to rush through it. I wanted to savor its locale — a quaint little seaside village in Cornwall. I wanted to take my time and get to know the people who make up the village of Port Lowdy. I also didn’t want to hurry through the book and get to the point where the hero and heroine finally decide they belong together. (We know it’s going to happen! This is a romance!) No, I wanted to better understand what the deeper story was behind Dan’s anger and Tressa’s insecurities and feelings of inferiority.
This is definitely a feel good story, but I don’t think it was all fluff. The author, Kate Forster, did a great job of developing Dan’s and Tressa’s personalities. She slowly gave the reader little bits of backstory that made one want to continue reading. Both characters had problems to which many of us can relate in one shape or form. In Tressa’s case, who hasn’t felt like they weren’t good enough at least once in their life? In Dan’s case, who hasn’t felt angry over the hand that fate has dealt us in certain situations? This made it easily to sympathize with them as they work through their problems and grow to be better people because of their experiences.
It’s also wonderful to see how Tressa’s strengths help Dan, and Dan’s strengths help Tressa.
This book has substance, yet Forster manages to write an enjoyable story that doesn’t drag you down while reading it. Instead, she weaves in supporting characters that give the story a lift and keep it light.
This is a great book; check it out!
Thank you to Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for a fair review of this book.
Finding Love at Mermaid Terrace is an amazing book that I couldn’t read fast enough. This book had me hooked from the start. I enjoyed it so much that I went and purchased several more of Kate Forster’s books, that I’ll be reading as soon as time permits. This book is centered around Tressa. She moved to Port Lowdy and made it her home, so she could put distance between her parents and her. You will fall in love with each of the characters stories and I loved that we get more than one romance story in this book. I won’t leave any spoilers, but I will say I thought Dan and Tressa were perfect for each other. If you want a book that will make you laugh and then cry, you won’t be disappointed with this terrific book. Do yourself a favor and grab your copy and see if Dan is still an angry guy.
I received an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley and this is my voluntary and honest review.
Finding Love at Mermaid Terrace” by Kate Forster. What can I say other than I loved it and read in one day. Who doesn’t want to escape to a small Cornish village by the sea…
The setting of a tiny village called Port Lowdy sounded breathtaking, I could picture it especially as I have visited small villages along the Cornish coast. It had everything you could want in a story love, regret, laughter, sadness, forgiveness, friendships and families as well as a cat named Ginger Pickles and Ritchie the dog.
I found the characters to be well developed, and multi-dimensional. There were multiple sub-plots to keep you engaged and interested in the outcome. I must admit I choked up and even shed a in a few spots always a sign of a good story that touches your heart.
I will definitely read other books by this author.
I highly recommend this author.
I requested and received an advance reader copy of this book from Aria and Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I’ve read a previous book by this author so I was excited to be given an opportunity to read this book.
Tressa was a bit prickly and Dan was kinda wimpy.
It was still a good story with many happy characters.
I enjoyed the story
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy