A Cottage by the Sea

In Blythe Barton Stowe’s considered opinion, justice would have been better served if the earthquake fault that ran under the Los Angeles County Courthouse had simply cracked open and swallowed her husband’s vulgar white stretch limousine, passenger and all.

A Cottage by the Sea
By Ciji Ware

Blythe has every right to feel less than generous towards her soon to be ex-husband. Just as she was returning from her grandmother’s funeral she finds out her husband has been cheating on her with her sister. Being that he is a famous movie director the papparazzi won’t let Blythe have a moment of peace and all she wants is to put an end to things and escape.

As she emerges from the courthouse with a very good divorce settlement she still can’t help but see that her own career is in tatters and her own heart has taken a serious beating. One final blow is that Christopher and her sister are expecting a baby. A baby she had longed for but Christopher had said they couldn’t have.

Blythe figures the best thing she can do is put a lot of distance between her and Christopher and Hollywood so she heads off to a remote cottage in Cornwall. No phone, no car, just some peace and quiet is what she expects. Of course when she arrives at Painter’s Cottage she meets the handsome owner Lucas Teague and before too long she realizes she has a chance for a new life.

With Lucas she embarks on a business venture to save his ancestral home, and while spending time with Lucas she realizes she is falling for him. Blythe tends to be cautious as she has some doubts about Lucas though. He doesn’t have a good connection with his son and she’s not sure if he’s still grieving for his first wife and as she tries to understand these relationships, Blythe realizes that since she arrived at Painter’s Cottage more secrets from her past are slowing cropping up and just wait until you see exactly how this develops in the book.

There’s lots of romance and drama and did I mention some time travel of a sort? I really liked that this didn’t just turn into a woman-scorned-finds-love type novel. I think via the visions Blythe has of the past she’s able to learn forgiveness and understanding. She is protective of her heart, with good reason, but she is open to change and falling in love again.

While this novel was a bit more heavy on the romance from my usual reads it was a light and entertaining book. I could imagine walking around in the beautiful gardens, having tea in the cottage and settling down with a Du Maurier novel for the evening. Blythe becomes quite the fan of Daphne’s books and I couldn’t help but like that.

Source: Advance Review Copy