Dockside

Lakeshore Chronicles #3

by Susan Wiggs

With her daughter grown and flown, Nina Romano is ready to embark on a new adventure. She's waited a long time for dating, travel and chasing dreams. But just as she's beginning to enjoy being on her own, she finds herself falling for Greg Bellamy, owner of the charming Inn at Willow Lake and a single father with two kids of his own.

Greg lost his first marriage to a demanding career. Now he's determined to make a new start before it's too late. Juggling work, raising his young son and helping his nearly grown daughter face life's ultimate challenge, he has no time to fall in love. Still, with Nina Romano, love feels just right this time around.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Fiction, Chick Lit, Contemporary, Womens Fiction, Adult Fiction

400 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 24, 2007

About the author

Susan Wiggs's life is all about family, friends...and fiction. She lives at the water's edge on an island in Puget Sound, and she commutes to her writers' group in a 17-foot motorboat. She serves as author liaison for Field's End, a literary community on Bainbridge Island, Washington, bringing inspiration and instruction from the world's top authors to her seaside community. (See www.fieldsend.org) She's been featured in the national media, including NPR's "Talk of the Nation," and is a popular speaker locally and nationally.

According to Publishers Weekly, Wiggs writes with "refreshingly honest emotion," and the Salem Statesman Journal adds that she is "one of our best observers of stories of the heart [who] knows how to capture emotion on virtually every page of every book." Booklist characterizes her books as "real and true and unforgettable." She is the recipient of three RITA (sm) awards and four starred reviews from Publishers Weekly for her books. The Winter Lodge and Passing Through Paradise have appeared on PW’s annual "Best Of" lists. Several of her books have been listed as top Booksense picks and optioned as feature films. Her novels have been translated into more than two dozen languages and have made national bestseller lists, including the USA Today, Washington Post and New York Times lists.

The author is a former teacher, a Harvard graduate, an avid hiker, an amateur photographer, a good skier and terrible golfer, yet her favorite form of exercise is curling up with a good book. Readers can learn more on the web at www.susanwiggs.com and on her lively blog at www.susanwiggs.wordpress.com.

Reviews

[Jonel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was another brilliant instalment in the Lakeshore Chronicles. The author draws you back into this quaint lakeside town and immerses you in the lives of the characters with her well-polished writing and breathtaking descriptions. I love how Wiggs isn’t afraid to bring topics such as teenage pregnancy to the forefront of her story. The characters are also individuals that you can’t help but fall in love with, at least by the end. There were one or two who annoyed me at times until they were able to overcome the hurdles in their paths. But as a whole this was a novel about entire families & how they come together. I quite enjoyed it and can’t wait to read more in this series.

[Obsidian · Rating 1 out of 5]

There was so much mess in this book I don't even know how to unpack it. I finally DNFed it at page 120 because I could not deal with the rising and falling of my blood pressure.

This is book #3 in the Lakeshore Chronicles series. I grabbed it at the library because I previously had read a book by Wiggs before (The Apple Orchard) that didn't work for me at every level, but I still wanted to try another book of hers. This book started out with an interesting premise that went all to hell the further I read.

Told in the third person we have the heroine (Nina Romano) and hero (Greg Bellamy) who both now live at Willow Lake. We find out that Nina was born and raised in Willow Lake. Greg it seems was from out of town and visited randomly during the summers when he was a teenager. Nina has plans to buy the Inn at Willow Lake and is surprised to return home from vacation to find out that the bank sold it to Greg Bellamy along with her contract to manage the place.

That was the first time my blood pressure rose. I deal with people misreading contracts and grant agreements all of the time. You can't as a bank sell a contract to someone when someone else had a different agreement in place. And you sure as heck can't sell part of a contract to someone else when the terms changed. I just literally hated every time this came up in the story because I wanted to yell this is not how that works.

So now that Greg owns Willow Lake the bank has sold the management side to him as well that Nina signed on to do (FFS). So now Greg needs Nina to agree to come work for him. Well actually he doesn't because he has a signed contract with means he could freaking sue Nina (though this whole contract thing is BS) if she failed to agree to work for him.

So for the parts of the book I read is Greg needing Nina to work for him since he doesn't know how to run an inn. Let's not even get into why the hell did Greg buy something he knows nothing about (instant #1 of Greg not being that smart).

I really really really despised the character Nina.

I don't know what else to say about her besides that. We get to see her as an adult and as a teenager and I really disliked her until I quit the novel. We first get to know Nina by hearing about how she was the mayor of the town before some big scandal which is not touched upon (I assume it was touched upon in earlier books, and I am not a great fan of hitting up previous plot points from prior books so that was okay by me) and now she is finally realizing her dream to own and operate the Inn at Willow Lake. I don't really get why Nina wants to do this at all. Nothing about her screams domestic at all. She is lonely since her daughter Sonnet (seriously) has left to spend the summer with her father and his family overseas. Nina has some jealously towards him and his perfect life. It is heavily implied that Sonnet's father is a dog and wasn't there for her like he was for her other kids. When Nina is told about the inn being sold out from under her she reacts like an asshole and pushes the assistant bank manager she was on a date with into the water. FYI, he can't swim. So Nina and Greg both act like jerks about this and actually laugh at the guy while he is sitting there almost freezing to death.

Now let me jump into teen Nina and I explain why I disliked her. She goes to camp for the summer and spies Greg Bellamy and decides she wants him. She is more developed than girls her age (which is 14) and so she flirts and makes him think she is of age (I am shaking my head right now). Someone quickly spills the beans on Nina and Greg is rightfully upset because she's underage. Well Nina then goes to a party at the country club welcoming in West Point's newest cadets and there she meets Sonnet's father, Lawrence (first time his name is used by the way). She drinks, he drinks, she is attracted to him, he is attracted to her, they have sex and both are happy about it and then Greg comes along and seems them post coitus and beats up Lawrence because he had to have taken advantage of her. I mean even Greg registers that she looks happy and so does he and so he knows that this wasn't rape. Instead we have a white teen beating up a black teen and yelling at him to go inside and threatening him because he deflowered a white teen who is an asshole for not telling what her real age is. The whole scene made me sick to my stomach and I was pretty much done after that.

Greg is a jerk and seems to all of a sudden out of nowhere become obsessed with Nina. He hates that she seems to know every guy in town (he says this a lot to himself) and because of how things worked out between them with regards to buying the Inn he knows he can't make it work without her. Which goes back to him not being smart, why buy something before you know if the person you want to work for you will actually work for you. There is some lip service paid to his kids and his ex and I didn't care.

The writing didn't grab me at all. I was looking forward to Ms. Wiggs tackling some huge issues like racism or what Nina went through raising a biracial child and what sort of prejudices did she have to overcome while doing that. That is not touched upon at all. I know this is a contemporary romance read, but let's not pretend racism just doesn't exist in romance books. And let me say again, I hate how the book portrayed Sonnet's father as not being there enough for her when we find out that Nina lied to Lawrence and could have caused him a lot of problems if people found out what happened between them. He was also 18 years old I would guess and what was he supposed to do? How dare he move on from that and find a grown woman to love (and not deceive him) to have two daughters with. How dare he be successful. That's what I meant about how the book was causing me to feel uncomfortable at times with how things were portrayed.

The flow of the book was not that great. It started and stopped in fits too many times. I hated the fact that Ms. Wiggs took the book back to when Nina was 14 (turned 15) and Greg was 18. It ended up making me dislike the two of them like hell. We went from present, back to past hung out there for a while and back to present. I wish we had started from the past and worked our way forward. I hated having to wait to page 100 to finally figure out how Nina got pregnant and how she first met Greg.

The setting of Willow Lake didn't really work for me. There were some chapter breaks describing the Inn at Willow Lake that made me roll my eyes too much. The book was trying to push the King Arthur and Guinevere angle too much.

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Here's the thing with this book: I liked it quite well right up until the climax. It had interesting characters, unexpected twists, and a compelling plot. But here's how the climax runs, when the hero and heroine finally get together (slightly paraphrased):

He shows up at her house unexpectedly. They talk about a few things, and at the end he says, "Come on, Nina, what do you say? Is it a date?" "Everything about this is wrong," she blurted out. He stared at her. "You're right. You're absolutely right." He slammed back the beer and stood up. "Glad we cleared that up about Max. Thanks for the beer. See you around."

He left. She sat there stunned. She cried, but not the good kind. Then he called, saying, "I forgot the most basic rule of dating. Don't show up unannounced. I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me." She says (notice how clear she is!), "No. I'm not going anywhere with you, Greg. But, um, thank you. Bye, Greg."

Did you notice how the woman said no. Said it clearly. Even though we hear her inner (and confused about Greg) dialogue, what she said to the man was, without ambiguity, "No."

But here's what happens, quoted exactly:

When she heard the heavy footsteps on the deck outside her door, she froze, too surprised to do anything but stand there as Greg returned to her. He didn't bother knocking but wrenched open the door and strode inside. How Rhett Butler of him, she thought.... And although she found her voice, the words that came out were totally inane. "I thought you had a new rule about unannounced visits." "I lied," he said, and grabbed her as though she'd been about to fall off a cliff. And then he walked her backward into the room, pressed her down on the sofa and kissed her -- long, hungry kisses that took her away somewhere, huge and endless makeout kisses that felt more like sex than kisses.

This scenario plays out almost identically right at the end of the book when Greg has told Nina to go away (out of mis-directed anger) and she begins to do that. Again, she tells him no and he overrides her.

Clearly, an underlying message that can be taken from this book is that a strong woman, a teen mom who raised her daughter on her own and was mayor of the town for years, doesn't know her own mind enough to be respected. And a man who knew her as a child and moved back a year ago after a failed marriage knows better.

I can't like or respect a hero who assumes he knows more about the heroine's preferences than she does. I can't recommend a book that teaches that a woman's "NO" doesn't mean no. And I'm surprised that an author would write such a story in 2008.

[Darcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is official, I have fallen in love with this series. What I have discovered about this series is that these books are about the have's and the have not's. The have's seem like they have it all....money, society class, and family, while the have not's seem to struggle for the things that money can buy, but they have lots of love. But all is not what it seems, the have's seem to be slowly finding out that money and the status will not get you what you need. The other thing that these books are about is second chances, how most often in life doing what others expect you to do is not what is going to be what makes you happy.

A three year age difference doesn't seem like it would be too much for a relationship, but when the ages are 15 an 18, those 3 years are so far apart, in fact there is a very good term for it, jailbait. Greg immediately feels the attraction to Nina, but when he learns her age, he very quickly backs off. They seem to keep running into each other when they are at their worse, the attraction still strong.

Fast forward a great many years and we run into these 2 again. Life has become interesting for them, Nina is just hitting the empty next stage of her life, after giving birth at 15, while Greg is coming off a divorce to a marriage that shouldn't have happened in the first place and dealing with his pregnant 18 year old daughter.

Unfortunately both Nina and Greg have the same dream, the Inn. It is something that Nina has dreamed about since she started working there at the age of 13, while Greg is hoping the Inn will salvage his broken family, giving him a new home for his daughter and son.

Most of the book deals with Nina and Greg's issues. Nina not sure what to do with her life and Greg rebuilding his. As they work close together the old attraction heats up again, but with new complications, both of their kids, their own reluctance, and the interference of all their family and friends. Can they both get over their issues to do what they really want?

The other very sweet aspect to this story was watching Daisey become more confident and sure of herself and just what she needs to do for her and her baby.

I can't wait until I can get the next book and get back to this crazy, but lovable family and community.

[Kate Vale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Third in the Lakeshore Chronicles, this story focuses on Nina Roman0, formerly her mother's helped when she worked as a cook at Camp Kioga, and Greg Bellamy, youngest of the four Bellamy trust fund kids. Their history is something he doesn't hint he recalls, but Nina can't help remembering. All the more reason she is furious when he buys the Inn out from under her. It had been her dream--forever! Now, with the flick of a banker's foreclosure document, he's the owner and wants her to manage it. Can she? Of course. Will she? That's one question she has difficulty answering.

What follows is a relationship built on the swaying tenterhooks of past recollections, the complications of her single-mother status and his newly divorced angst and worry about his pregnant daughter (like Nina, too young) and son, Max, whose anger at the world seems to know no bounds.

How they manage until the day of Olivia's wedding is something to behold, especially when that day ends with Greg becoming a grandfather and having to meet daughter Daisy's former boyfriend for the first time. Read it and weep and then laugh happy tears.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am really giving this book three and a half stars. I don't go in for romance and relationship novels on the whole, but I like this Willow Lake series, which I stumbled upon a few years back. I pick them up used, so I am not reading them in order. Since the same characters reappear, I have sometimes already read the future. Oh, well. I enjoyed this book, but not nearly as much as the other Willow Lakes that I have read. It kept me entertained at the beach and back yard since I love the whole process of the old, beloved inn coming to life again, the beautiful New York state landscape, the bakery, the teen aged photographer, the interesting journey through life that each character chose to take, and why. I like the contrast of the year rounders and the wealthy old guard summer folks, and how their lives have merged. I am not sure what irks me about this volume. Maybe just a bit too much of other people's exhausting cross purposes and romantic missteps.

[Dianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt that this was more about Greg Bellamy his daughter Daisy and son Max then about Nina and Greg or the Inn at Willow Lake. Nina and Greg as a couple felt like more of a filler story. As far as Daisy and Max go I think Max is more of a brat then Daisy. and I pretty much think that Greg Bellamy is a spoiled brat also. I don't care how good looking he is or how much money he has Nina Romano should have ran the other way from him.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Third in the series...her books are mind candy.

[Susan Brooks]

Chick-lit at it’s finest. Head to the beach!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great read. I like how she expands on the characters from a previous book.

[Jane Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK, but not recommended.

This is a book about relationships floating around and developing from three different unmarried teens getting pregnant. I would categorize it as contemporary women's fiction, as opposed to a romance novel. There were no sex scenes in this book. The author describes a couple kissing and the next sentence was similar to they woke up at dawn in each others arms. I don't require sex scenes to enjoy a book. For example, Claire Cross wrote two "relationship" books (having little or no sex) which I thoroughly enjoyed. Therefore, when comparing Susan Wiggs to Claire Cross I would not recommend Susan unless you specifically desire the subject matter. The words I used to described Claire Cross' books were: charming, witty and unpredictable for All or Nothing; and fulfilling, enjoyable and thought provoking for One More Time. I wouldn't put any of those adjectives with Dockside, unless I might say "somewhat thought provoking." The book just didn't hold my interest. Nothing surprised or delighted me. Greg hires Nina to work for him after he gets a divorce. He and she are in their 30s. I enjoyed their developing relationship, but I did not enjoy all the back stories about their earlier lives as teens and then being parents for fifteen plus years which were significant parts of the book. But, for those who might want to read about teen pregnancies, I will mention some things under spoilers, below.

CAUTION SPOILERS:
Nina gets pregnant but does not tell the father because it would hurt his career plans and get him kicked out of West Point. She raises the girl by herself, but tells the father four years later. He stays in the girl's life even though he marries someone else and has children with his wife. Sophie breaks up with Greg not knowing she is pregnant. Several months later she shows up with the baby and Greg feels he must marry her for the child's sake. Greg does not love her but marries her anyway. He is angry but he tries to do the right thing. Eventually they divorce. Greg's daughter Daisy gets pregnant due in part to teen anger at her parents' divorce. This book is about choices and results. It is also about happy vs. unsuccessful marriages.

DATA:
Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: none. Setting: around 2005, small town of Avalon in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York. Genre: comtemporary women's fiction.

[Nancy Brady · Rating 3 out of 5]

Single mom Nina Romano and newly divorced dad Greg Bellamy finally connect and fall in love after years of dancing around each other in this contemporary romance set in this Lakeshore Chronicles novel.

Part family saga, part romance...this is an ongoing series of tales set in Avalon, which is as important as the characters themselves. Although each are standalone stories, the various characters often show up again. Overall, an enjoyable series to read without graphic sexual scenes.

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two-haiku review:

Her daughter's all grown
Her dream is to own the inn
But he buys it first

Enjoying series
Always several subplots
Substantial stories

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was 3.5 stars, not as good as the other 2 in the series. A little too soap opera-y.

[Cruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Author: Susan Wiggs
First published: 2007
Read in: Susan Wiggs Lakeshore Chronicles Series Books 1-3
Length: 5987 kindle locations
Setting: Contemporary. Avalon, New York.
Sex: With the blinds drawn.
Hero: Architect? Landscape Gardner? Now owner of inn.
Heroine: Former mayor now inn manager.
Note: Teenage pregnancy.

An odd coupling - the uncle of the Heroine in book 1 (Olivia) and her friend, Nina. But Nina was a teenage single mum (15ish) and Greg is only a few years older, married young but now divorced, so it does work.

There are some issues with the forced situation and the subsequent romance but it works overall.

2.5 stars rounded down. It's okay.

Lakeside Chronicles:
Book 1 Summer at Willow Lake - Olivia Bellamy and Connor Davis
Book 2 The Winter Lodge - Jenny Majesky and Rourke McKnight
Book 3 Dockside - Nina Romano and Greg Bellamy
Book 4 Snowfall at Willow Lake - Sophie Bellamy and Noah Shepherd
Book 4.5 Homecoming Season in More than Words
Book 5 Fireside - Bo Kutcher and Kimberly van Dorn
Book 6 Lakeshore Christmas - Eddie Haven and Maureen Davenport
Book 7 The Summer Hideaway - Claire Turner and Ross Bellamy
Book 8 Marrying Daisy Bellamy - Daisy Bellamy and Logan O’Donnell or Julian Gastineaux
Book 9 Return to Willow Lake - Sonnet Romano and Zach Alger
Book 10 Candlelight Christmas - Logan O’Donnell and Darcy Fitzgerald
Book 11 Starlight on Willow Lake - Faith McCallum and Mason Bellamy

References:
Author's website: http://www.susanwiggs.com/book/dockside/

(Read in Susan Wiggs Lakeshore Chronicles Series Books 1-3 ISBN 9780857993564)

-CR-

[Jack Vasen · Rating 1 out of 5]

This third book of the Lakeshore Chronicles tells a complete story and could stand alone. I read the series out of order (and not all of it) and it is confusing that way.

I didn't think the story was that interesting. There is a good character study of Nina who has a child with no husband and learns to live a life without the love of a man. Then she struggles to overcome the independence she has built up over 17 years or so while raising the daughter, Sonnet. Nina is a strong, competent, and yes independent woman. This character study shows that there are some gaps in her life that result in some weaknesses she never wanted to face.

Like Nina, the Greg I knew from later books is more likable than this Greg. Perhaps that is fair since there is growth in him between here and there. I didn't care for this Greg all that much because of some things he does in this book .

I had trouble reconciling the Sophie of this book with the Sophie in her own story, the next book. If I hadn't read her story first, I would not have read it at all after reading this one. In this book she is described as an Ice Queen and in her own story she is much more than that.

Perhaps because I read the stories of these characters so badly out of order, it made it so much more obvious to me how much SW develops these characters over the course of them.

Mature themes: there is consensual sex which isn't really described. A man gets beat up. But what concerns me the most is over an event in the book which appears to show that no doesn't always mean no. A man assertively kisses a woman after she refuses a date with him twice immediately before the kiss, but then she gives in completely to his kiss and then has sex with him. While the no was to a slightly different issue, a date, than the kiss , it was still clear that the woman was refusing him romantically and sexually. If a woman changes her mind, she needs to say it before a man assumes anything otherwise. Deduct at least two stars. On principle, I recommend against this book. There should never be any confusion over whether no means no.

[Julie Marsig · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been reading the books in order, so have got to know the characters in this series. You wish them all well and it has been a joy to read this third book and find out how they are getting along.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Predictable story, but enjoyable nonetheless! A nice, easy and pleasurable weekend read!

[Anjana · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://superfluousreading.wordpress....

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great beach read! The characters are flawed, and you see them grow over the course of the book. While there isn't much for those looking for a romance, this is still a nice character-driven story in the series.

[Bertha Ivins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the reason I am enjoying this series is because you don’t have to read them in order they are a story without All the rest of the books

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this was my favorite book of the whole series.

Nina Romano and Greg Bellamy share a turbulent past fraught with humiliation, rejection, and a mutual, if never-consummated, sexual attraction stretching back to her early teens. When Nina discovers that Greg is now a recently divorced, rich, and successful father of two and the new owner of the Inn at Willow Lake, she is forced to reevaluate her lifelong dream of owning the place herself. For his part, Greg finds the mature woman even more enticing than the rebellious teen, and gradually their lives, and those of their children, become more closely interwoven. Wiggs continues the Lakeshore Chronicles with another charming second-chance contemporary romance set in the idyllic upstate New York resort area.

[Kittygabe]

Come on! How can i dream about this if i don't have a love from the past. Okay, i do, but i really don't want them to reappear!!!!
Was good to know what happened to Daisyt, but i wanted to see the relationship between Phillip Laura in details!
I think it needed an epilogue like 2 years from that time telling what happened with Daisy's baby (and Logan), Jenny's baby, how was Olivia doing. And Julian? So much story left to be told...

[JaNel · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF Why so much teen pregnancy? Also way too much “like most guys” and “like all women”. Super bugged by the constant shallow body-shaming phrased as praise—even ugly people can find love, even frumpy people. Love can even make “heavy set” people beautiful. Geez. 🙄
None of her characters have the least physical flaw.
So why do I keep reading? More like skimming

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Switching back and forth from the past to the present is informative, but somehome it keeps me from being completely immersed in the story. The series is pleasant and enjoyable, but not compelling.

[Joann M · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is getting better with each book

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book by Susan Wiggs. I am reading the Lakside Collection a little out of order but enjoying the books nevertheless. This would make a great summer/vacation/beach read.

[tination · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mein Kitschherz, es lebt!!!

In dem Buch dreht sich alles um Nina Romano. Sie möchte, nachdem ihr Kind flügge geworden ist, das geliebte Hotel am See wiedereröffnen. Leider kann sie das Hotel nicht gleich kaufen. Das übernimmt Greg Bellamy für sie. Nina, nicht sehr erfreut, doch nicht der eigene Chef im Hotel zu werden, stimmt widerwillig zu, für ihn als Hotelmanagerin zu arbeiten. Nun müssen beide zusammenarbeiten. Und fühlen sich zueinander hingezogen.

Ach, mein Kitschherz, das schlug schon höher. Denn man merkt von der ersten Seite, dass das hier pures Chick-Lit ist. Aber man kommt leicht rein und ohne viel Einleitung beginnt der Hauptstrang der Erzählung. Was mir vorher nicht bewusst war: dies ist der dritte Teil einer Serie. Jedes Buch erzählt von anderen Pärchen. Diese kommen auch hier vor, werden kurz immer wieder auf deren jeweilige Liebesstory hingewiesen. Alles scheint sich wohl um die Großfamilie Bellamy zu drehen. Aber sei es drum, man muss die anderen Bücher nicht gelesen haben. Doch das Buch gibt Futter, um auch die anderen Bücher der Reihe zu lesen.

Denn das Setting ist toll. Ich möchte sofort in diese Kleinstadt am See fahren und in dem Hotel am See nächtigen. Das hat die Autorin wunderbar getroffen. Auch die kleinen Beschreibungen der Inneneinrichtung im Hotel sind zwar für die Story nicht notwendig, aber nett zu lesen. Man merkt, dass die Autorin gern in dem Genre schreibt, aber auch mit Bedacht schreibt. Und das fehlt bei so vielen Büchern des Genres.

Auch die Protagonisten kommen sehr erwachsen und schlüssig herüber. Nina, die schon sehr früh ein Kind hatte, möchte nach ihrer Bürgermeisterzeit neu anfangen. Als Hotelchefin. Leider ist Greg Bellamy schneller. Auch er hat seine Gründe für den Kauf des Hotels: bloß weg aus der Großstadt. Neuanfang mit den zwei Kindern, wobei er ja schon fast Opa wird. Die Scheidung ist durch und er ist auf der Suche. Und findet schnell Nina. Dass sich beide schnell toll finden, ist okay. Auch wie sie beide agieren ist schön beschrieben. Durch Blicke in die Vergangenheit werden ihre Lebensläufe komplettiert.

Leider muss ja wie auf dem Klappentext schon tituliert (und im Genre auch so üblich) ein kleines Drama gegen Ende des Buches geben, um beide von der Liebe überzeugt zu werden (Happy End). Dieses fällt hier doch sehr flach aus. Natürlich nachvollziehbar. Aber hätte man miteinander mehr geredet, wäre die Sache auch nur halb so schlimm gewesen. Macht aber nix, da dass angekündigte Drama sowieso kein Drama war.

Neben den Sichten auf Nina und Greg gab es noch einen zweiten, kleinen Geschichtsstrang. Und ich weiß nicht, ob das so passend war, eine kleine angedeutete Lovestory um Gregs Tochter Daisy zu schreiben. Daisy, die wie Nina sehr jung schwanger wurde, möchte selbstständig werden. Weg vom Vater, hinein in die eigene Wohnung. Ich vermute mal, das war der Aufhänger für ein neues Buch, dass im gleichen Setting spielen wird. Dort kann sie dann ihre wahre Liebe finden.

Dass das Buch ein Happy End hat, brauche ich nicht zu erwähnen oder? Ich kann jetzt beruhigt weiterlesen. Mein Kitschherz ist wieder besänftigt.

Jedenfalls bis zum nächsten Buch.

https://commigratio.com/2018/04/11/su...

[Lori Michael Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three seems to be my standard rating for Wiggs. I keep reading her books for a couple reasons. First, she is a local author. She lives near me and I always like to support the locals. Second, I have read ALL the Elin Hildebrand and Kristin Hannah books and they are my favorite female authors. I am looking for another. My problem with Wiggs is that her books are SO Harlequin Romance like. By chapter 2 I knew what the end of the book would be. Can you say: F.O.R.M.U.L.A.I.C? Girl sees boy. Girl hates boy. Girl likes boy but can't let him know. Girl hates boy. Girl obsesses about boy. Girl hates boy. Girl falls madly in love with boy. I would write an example from the book in this review but suffice it to say, if you read the first 3/4 of the book, you will find page after page of examples.

I did not like the female protagonist at all. She was a complete bitch most of the time. I couldn't find any redeeming qualities except that she was a good mother. At the end of the first chapter she literally throttled her date by the throat because he told her that the place she wanted to buy had been sold. REALLY?? They were in a kayak on a lake. Needless to say, that didn't end well. Then she is VERY rude to the guy who bought the Inn because, well, he bought the Inn and she wanted to. Some day. When she got the money. The male protagonist offered her a VERY good job at the Inn, but she still hated him because he bought it even though he didn't know she wanted to buy it...eventually. (Are you still with me?) I almost liked her at the end but didn't quite make it. It is very hard for me to enjoy a book when I can not stand the main character.

I lean towards WWII historical novels, murder mysteries and suspense novels. Occasionally I need a light hearted chick book. I have already purchased a couple more Susan Wigg books so I will eventually read them. Still, this book took 2 weeks to read. It is a very easy read, but I just didn't feel compelled to pick it up and read it very often. I didn't hate it. I didn't love it. I appreciated some characters and I love the idea of the Inn. I also seem to be a little attached to the Lake, Camp Kioga and the history of the area but honestly, I am really happy I forced myself to finish the book finally. I have some awesome books just waiting for me on my nightstand. Do I recommend this book? I suppose if this type of book is your thing then you will enjoy it.

[Cheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This series is quite a bit different from most series that I’ve read. Where most series have peripheral characters in one book that get their own story later, each book ending with the HEA of the hero and heroine. This series also has a HEA for the main characters (thank goodness, I love the HEA!) but the peripheral characters are much more woven into the story. While this book is primarily about Greg and Nina, we already know a lot about them from the two previous books. And Greg’s daughter figures prominently in all three stories. It’s almost like the series is a soap opera…and I mean that in a good way. Sometimes certain characters are in the forefront while others get snippets of stories woven through the whole thing. Later, those characters get brought to the forefront but the original characters are still there very prominently.

As much as I enjoyed the story between Nina and Greg, I really cannot get enough of Greg’s daughter. Daisy has had me interested from the very first book, Summer at Willow Lake, in which she was a ticked off teenager that was angry with the world because of her parents’ marriage falling apart. I loved her friendship with Julian as it intrigued me. In the next book, The Winter Lodge, Daisy continued to win my heart over and keep me curious as to what would come next for her. She was still hurting and lashing out about the divorce, but she also grew up so much in that story. My love of Daisy continued in this story. Although we don’t get a lot from her perspective, there’s a lot going on about her in this book. I cannot wait until she gets her own book.

Read my full review at https://allingoodtimeblog.wordpress.c...