Moonlight Cove

Author: Sherryl Woods
ISBN: 978-192179547-3
RRP: $29.99

Moonlight Cove is my introduction to Sherryl Woods, and we hit it off nicely too I might add. Moonlight Cove is the 6th book in the Chesapeake Shores series which seems to focus on the entire O’Brien clan.

The O’Brien’s are quite a large family who saturate the town of Chesapeake Shores and it seems like each book in the series tells the story of one member of the family. In Moonlight Cove that O’Brien is Jess, owner of the Inn at Eagle Point.

Jess’s story may be the focal point but it is not the only one vying for attention. There seems to be a lot of the preceding volumes trying to grab your attention and show how they have ended up, as well as setting the scene for the volumes still to come.

If you like your romance filled to the brim with bedroom scenes then this isn’t going to be one for you. Moonlight Cove is more about the anticipation and skirting around romance, it’s the promise of what could be. Don’t get me wrong the sizzle of the sparks is very nearly audible and there is no shortage of chemistry but there isn’t the blood boiling descriptive physical passion that you find in some romance novels. The passion is there but it simmers under the surface and is well controlled, except behind closed doors – except for one scene and even that was relatively tame.

The story begins with best friends Connie, Jess and Laila signing up for a new online dating service catering to a local crowd. Three smart, beautiful and independent women who have had no luck at all in the relationships stakes. Their ages are rather well spread but their O’Brien connections have brought them together and they have developed a strong friendship. Laila is all for the service and the other two sign up more for moral support than any desire to have anything to do with it.

Being the 6th book in the series all of the characters would be old friends to long time readers, so a lot of their back stories would be common knowledge, taking this into account as I read meant that characters that seemed a little shadowier were understandable. Followers of the series don’t need the characters quite so fleshed out – they’ve already had 5 books to get to know them. Having said that I did feel that I got to know the focal characters well enough, and there were more of them than one might expect.

There are lots of unresolved relationships, lots of emotion that is not discussed and explored because of fear. This is something I expected from Jess and Will after reading the blurb, what surprised was the fact that there seemed to be a very similar situation playing out between Susie & Mack, and Connie & Thomas. What are the odds that three relationships in the same extended family would all be dancing around mutual, if unacknowledged, attraction that the whole family recognise and discuss but the involved parties are oblivious to?

Moonlight Cove is a book I really enjoyed. The characters were interesting and they reeled me in with the baggage they carried. The story was as much about family relationships – and surviving a big one – as it was about romance, maybe even more so! It said a lot about how family shapes the adults we grow into and overcoming that.

I discovered many touching moments in Moonlight Cove that had me reaching for the tissues. Moments shared between lovers, siblings, parents and children.

I am interested in the stories that culminated in Moonlight Cove but don’t think I will search them out, and I am interested in what comes next for the characters – for Will & Jess and Connie & Thomas as minor players and for Susie and Mack but it isn’t something I would count down the days to.

Was a lovely way to spend an afternoon waiting for the school bell to ring.

Michelle

I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!