LOVE IN CATALINA COVE by Brenda Jackson: Review

Posted October 22, 2018 in Book Tour, Reviews / 1 Comment

Love in Catalina Cove by Brenda Jackson
Series: Catalina Cove #1
Published by HQN Books
Publication Date: October 30th 2018
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 480
Source: Publisher
Format: eARC
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Disclaimer: I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book. All opinions stated are solely mine.

In her brand-new series, Brenda Jackson welcomes you to Catalina Cove, where even the biggest heartbreaks can be healed…

In the wake of a devastating teen pregnancy that left her childless and heartbroken, Vashti Alcindor left Catalina Cove, Louisiana, with no plans to return. Now, over a decade later, Vashti reluctantly finds herself back in her hometown after inheriting her aunt’s B and B. Her homecoming gets off to a rocky start when the new sheriff, Sawyer Grisham, pulls her over for speeding, and things go downhill from there.

The B and B, a place she’d always found refuge in when it seemed like the whole world was against her, has fallen into disrepair. When a surprising benefactor encourages Vashti to reopen the B and B, Vashti embraces a fresh start, and soon old hurts begin to fade as she makes new memories with the town—and its handsome sheriff…

But some pasts are too big to escape, and when a bombshell of a secret changes everything she thought was true, Vashti is left reeling. With Sawyer and his teenage daughter determined to see her through the storm, though, she’s learning family isn’t always a matter of blood—sometimes it’s a matter of heart.

Review

I honestly did not know what to expect going in, but I’m a huge fan of a couple of the author’s other series and I don’t think you can go wrong with Brenda Jackson. I’ll say other than having cursing a storm at the end of the book, it was actually very enjoyable to read, with very little angst and a lot of drama, which was quite appropriate given the subject matter.

Vashti Alcindor planned to never return to Catalina Cove with good reason, but the issues surrounding her inheritance of her aunt’s B&B mean she has to break that promise to herself but the potential reward at the end is too good to pass up. Getting a speeding ticket was certainly not in the plan but how else could she have met the town’s sexy new sheriff?

Sawyer Grisham gave up a flourishing career in the city for chance to bring his daughter up in a small town where they could heal after losing his wife to cancer and he is certain he would never care for another woman like he did his wife, but fate has a way of throwing a wrench in plans.

With Vashti determined that she was done with men for good and Sawyer wanting to explore his feelings for her, it seemed they were at an impasse. Fate again steps in when Vashti discovers that her parents lied to her twenty years ago and her past and her future are tied to Catalina Cove, in more ways than one.

I enjoyed the slow pace of the story and the fact that the author did not just limit us readers to Vashti and Sawyer’s lives, but gave us insights into the lives of the secondary characters, along with creating an extended family of people brought together by fate for good. While Vashti had expected a huge sum of money, what she got was infinitely more valuable.

About the cursing at the end? I’m not a fan of keeping toxic people in my life and it rubbed me the wrong way that Vashti sought to make up with her parents after the decades of massive lies and deceit from them, and even when they had a chance to some clean and own up, they refused to take it. Besides that, this was a really great start to this series and I’m really looking forward to the next book.

About Brenda Jackson

Brenda Jackson is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of numerous novels, including the Westmorelands series and, from St. Martin’s Press, Some Like It Hot, Taste of Passion and The Playa’s Handbook. She was the first African-American author to have a book published under the Harlequin/Silhouette Desire line of books and the first African-American romance author to make USA Today's bestsellers list and the New York Times bestsellers list for the series romance genre. Jackson has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Jacksonville University, and worked for thirty-seven years in management at a major insurance company. She now divides her time between family, writing and traveling. She has been married for thirty-seven years to her childhood sweetheart, Gerald, and they have two sons. She lives in the city where she was born, Jacksonville, Florida.

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