Cottage at Bella Beach

Bella Beach #1

by Kate Wentworth

When 53-year-old Emma Sinclair’s husband walks out on her after draining their accounts, she has no idea what to do. The only place she knows she can turn are her three best friends who’ve been together through all life’s ups and downs.

Then she receives a letter from a lawyer informing her that her estranged mother has died and left her a cottage in Bella Beach, a town she’s never even heard of. The only catch? She has to claim it in person. It’s just the opportunity Emma needs to get a fresh perspective on things and decide what to do next.

With her three best friends in tow, she heads to Bella Beach and the mystery that was her late mother. Question is, will she be strong enough to follow her dreams and embrace a brand-new life? Or will old secrets destroy her fresh start?

Welcome to Bella Beach! A charming town with a host of delightful characters and unforgettable stories. Where secrets abound, friendships are formed, and love is waiting to be uncovered.

Cottage at Bella Beach – Book 1
Christmas at Bella Beach – Novella 1.5
Bakery at Bella Beach – Book 2
Bookshop at Bella Beach – Book 3
Lighthouse at Bella Beach – Book 4
Secrets of Bella Beach – Book 5
Return to Bella Beach – Book 6
Wedding at Bella Beach – Book 7

Genres: Romance, Fiction, Ebooks, Small Town Romance, Womens Fiction

241 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 17, 2022

Reviews

[Kara Kelliher · Rating 4 out of 5]

picked up this book during amazons “stuff your kindle day”. i love a book about womens’ friendships but it was so short!! also left me on a cliff hanger so i might have to get the next one!

[Georgianne Landy-Kordis AUTHOR - ARTIST · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. This writer writes a little like me, not too much discription. Just enough to tell the story in a comfortable amount of time. I enjoy shorter fictional stories when I want to take a break from everything. I liked that the characters are a little older and that they are experiencing actual life circumstances. I just started the second book in this series and intend to read the whole series.

[Karen Sheldon · Rating 4 out of 5]

such a fun read

Really loved getting to know these four women. Starting over later in life, two women, one divorced and one whose husband died, along with two other lifelong friends go on a trip from Oregon to California which will change their lives.

[Diane Fulton · Rating 1 out of 5]

Underwhelmed

How in God's green earth does a so-called "writer" end a book in such a cowardly manner? I won't read another of this author's books. You are a cheater. I'd like my money refunded.

[Carly Howe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this read! The four women characters are likable and make the story even better. I’m looking forward to the next story in the series.

[Carol Engler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book that came up in books you might like .
I had mixed feelings at first. The characters just came across as trapped by the own emotions,unable to move forward.
Then came the text " Girls Night at Emma". The story based on 4 friends who join up to start over again after life changing experiences. Ava a baker who boss lets her go , Emma a homemaker with a small business and her husband just divorced her , Claire a librarian who just lost her husband and Sophia who working her butt off while her BF plays at being a musician. Another words they have a lot of losers in their lives.
This is a series so don't expect it to wrap up in one book

[layne m. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well this was just so CUTIE!!!!!
Follows the lives of a friend group of 4 older women and their lives in Portland. Best part of it is that apparently it’s a WHOLE SERIES!!!!!

PSA though that it might make you want to move to live by the beach:)

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Cottage at Bella Beach was a random find on stuff your kindle day. A journey of four friends each going through their own struggles, but their support and love for one another pulls them through. I found it heartwarming and uplifting, showing that as devastating as an end might be it could lead you to an even greater adventure. I can’t wait to start the second book in the series.

[Klare Lowman · Rating 5 out of 5]

good & easy ready - entertaining!

This book was an easy and entertaining read. I enjoyed that the story didn’t seem to drag on, but kept going and kept my attention. I am excited to read the sequels.

[Doris Ware · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book

[Maria Calvo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book starts with the story of 4 middle age friends who, through a series of circumstances, each find themselves at a cross road of their lives. They embark on a new adventures. Unfortunately, just as the story becomes interesting, the story ends! I guess it continues in the other books in the series, which I found frustrating. I realize it’s a series of stories, but I assumed it book told a complete story.

[Maegan Pierce · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was good. The only thing I hated was that it ended on a cliff hanger. I wish the author wouldve finished Emma's story and then started the next book on another character.

[Blue · Rating 1 out of 5]

Four good friends, in their fifties, each go through a very difficult time in their lives. They support each other while each is barely holding it together (because their lives are going rather badly). The author makes sure to frustrate you with realistic but piece of shit people ruining each character's life. I am not even putting a spoiler warning here because nothing happens in this book. You just read and read about how things are going so horribly for these poor women, and suddenly, the book ends before any single storyline reaches a resolution. Not even a small resolution is achieved in any of the too many storylines. She keeps throwing the lovely characters under the bus by putting them in horrible extreme stress scenarios caused by, for example:

- being fired from a job and getting their hard earned reputation ruined because of false accusations of a greedy new employer,

- a backstabbing cheating husband,

- death of the love of her life (!?!),

- emotional abuse and gaslighting by a freeloading husband

So my advice is to steer away from this book unless you want your mood ruined. All it did for me was to make me think of my own similar bad experiences in life, and I couldn't even get the satisfaction of a fictional happy ending.

This is not how a proper book series is written. The author or the publishers, whoever caused this stupid half book of sadness to be published as a book, should be ashamed of themselves.

[Rae Franco-Rowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emma's life has suddenly changed. Her college friends come in her time of need, there are three, Ava, Sophie and Claire. The friends are really more like sisters. The novel starts in Portland, ,Oregon. A beautiful part of our country, which I have had the pleasure to enjoy. After Emma clears up her life in Portland, she and her friends take a trip down to Southern California to a beach near Santa Barbara. This is not far from where I grew up. What a beautiful place. She has in inherited a piece of property there.

In recent months, I have had a friend named, Trish, who has introuced me to beachy woman's fiction. I have enjoyed them so very much. So I thought I would give this a read. Kate Wentworth, for me has done an excellent writing of this book. So much so I have ordered her other two books in the series. Kate, thank you for making my adventure in reading so very enjoyable.

[Lisa Thibodeaux · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have given it 4 stars because I really like the 4 friends and was interested throughout the book; however, the end was not a real ending, just the start of Book 2. I recognize a series should make you want to read the next book, but there also needs to be a full story in the book. It felt like just Part 1. I will probably read more of the series eventually but not right now because the end left me dissatisfied.

UPDATED after reading SERIES: The books in this series are basically all ONE book broken into chapters. I just think each one ends like you’re still in the middle of the book. If it would have been one book, it would be 4 stars. I enjoyed the characters and the setting as well as much of the story. My advice is get all of them and read it as one!

[Kim Emerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a cute story about four friends starting over. BUT it ends right when everything is starting to get going. It feels like you’re about a third of the way through the book and it just stops. If you want to keep going, you have to pay for the next part, so you’ll end up paying 3 or 4 times just to finish the story. No thank you.

[Maury · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, this was disappointing. The writing was very stiff, which made the characters not at all compelling. It's also not a complete work. It's as if the author took a scissors to the work at a convenient point. I was not interested enough to move on to book 2.

[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would have rated it higher if it hadn’t ended in a cliffhanger.

[Meg Hill · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

Not bad per se, but it felt like half the book was missing.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the six books in this series in less than 2 days! They are wonderful! And now I have to wait over 5 months until the next one comes out!!! I was really engaged in the stories, the characters, and their lives.

Amazon synopsis:
When 53-year-old Emma Sinclair’s husband walks out on her after draining their accounts, she has no idea what to do. The only place she knows she can turn are her three best friends who’ve been together through all life’s ups and downs.

Then she receives a letter from a lawyer informing her that her estranged mother has died and left her a cottage in Bella Beach, a town she’s never even heard of. The only catch? She has to claim it in person. It’s just the opportunity Emma needs to get a fresh perspective on things and decide what to do next.

With her three best friends in tow, she heads to Bella Beach and the mystery that was her late mother. Question is, will she be strong enough to follow her dreams and embrace a brand-new life? Or will old secrets destroy her fresh start?

[Hannah Louise Catherall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely series of friendship, betrayal and starting fresh. Within this story and beginning of the series we have four best friends who each have their own stories and issues.

First of all we start off with Emma whose husband has surprisingly moved all of their assets out of bank accounts much to Emma’s surprise. Turns out he’s a jackass! Thankfully fast forward we divorce and Emma wins the home!

We then have a sudden inheritance from Emma’s mother who recently passed away, the only strange thing of this is Emma hasn’t heard of her in 20+ years.

I loved wrong this story enravel; this is a very quick series as all books are quite short this one being the longest in the group but I’m getting through them pretty quickly.

[Christine Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well Done

As much as I hate cliff-hangers l have to admit this book hooked me right away and kept me reading until the very end. I love the care and friendship these women have for each other. And the support they show is something I've always wanted and never had. Now I really want to read the rest of the series. I need to know what happens to each of these wonderful, emotionally battered women. To see how they evolve and grow. Well done!

[Sheri DeSimone · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was part of a book that they are trying to hook you into buying the full novel sold in pieces. I kept checking to see if the Kindle had misfired because it just stopped in the middle of her situation, launching into an add for the rest of it. I won't be continuing with this if I have to buy it in sections. They should more accurately label it a teaser or excerpt from a novel. I honestly wasn't bought in enough to these characters to warrant continuing a very predictable waterfall of outcomes.

[Denise Arland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up on stuff your Kindle day. It was a quick, fun read and I enjoyed the characters, but it was very short and ended right where it should’ve kicked into the meat of the story. The ending was a cliffhanger. I get the feeling since there’s 5 or 6 more books that it’s just a way to sell books by splitting up one story into a series. That was disappointing. Since the books are not available at my library, I probably will not read any more of them.

[Cambria Alford · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book during a Stuff Your Kindle Day, and I decided to read it after finishing a large book series that I adored. I needed a good pallet cleanser, and Cottage at Bella Beach was perfect! Even though there are some heavy subjects and topics, it is a light, airy, easy read. It centers around 4 friends who are later in life and all going through major life changes. It ends on a bit of a cliff hanger, and I'll definitely put the 2nd on my TBR.

[Johana Nadler · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enchanting book of true friendship and how it helped surmount life’s trials. An easy read and unstoppable as it shows the resilience of four women faced with turmoil in their lives.
It emphasizes that we are always able to get a fresh start as long as we are willing to remodel our existence as if made of clay.
Changes allow new beginnings and these open up endless possibilities.

[Vinita Nair · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a reading "break" for me and while I enjoyed the book, the writing was not particularly great, though the story was cute. I picked it up as a free kindle download but was a little disappointed it ended in a cliffhanger. The remaining books in the series are not free, and I am not sure I'd actually spend money on this type of book.

[Kimberly A Vowel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed the book! Four amazing women who’ve been friends for many years. The characters are so well written and interesting. So many different things going on in each of their lives. Couldn’t put it down. Just bought the novella and I’m sure I’ll continue the series. It’s amazing and my favorite type of story!

[Bridget · Rating 2 out of 5]

I downloaded this during Amazon’s free Kindle days….I wouldn’t consider this an actual “book”, it’s probably only 1/3 of one. It was ok, but not good enough I would buy the rest of the “books in the series. My to-read list is already too long and I’d rather pick up something that is a full story.

[Sandra Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Friends are important

This book is too short! It took me a while to get into it, maybe because there are so many characters. But once I did, the story fully engulfed me. There is quite a bit of doormat syndrome in each of the friends. I liked the beach parts & the descriptions made me actually sigh...aaaahhhh deep breath.