Kimberly Cates

A nice easy read. I liked the characters, especially the male lead Cash. A single father with two daughters he's fighting his need to be a perfect dad with his feelings for Rowena. Thinking he couldn't have both, have his attention divided is something I think most of us can relate to. His daughters are cute and as you'd expect given the circumstances. Rowena's family are relatable and understandable. Rowena on the other hand is supposed to a free spirit who's always right and always tolerated no matter what she does. I found her to be flighty and rude. There are ways to handle and manipulate people without coming across as a pushy know-it-all. I didn't think her wise and right when she was yelling at Cash about how to raise his daughters. He needed help and direction but she crossed a huge line. He let her get away with it. Others may find her tolerable and I'd certainly recommend giving the book a read for yourself.… (more)

Jacqueline "Jack" Murphy is spending 2 months at Mermaid Lost, a lighthouse in Maine completing a photographic book on it started by her deceased mentor. It is also helping her come to grips with his death and her guilt in how it happened. When Tom Brownlow and his daughter, Lucy, show up on the day of a major storm hoping to stay at the lighthouse, Jack is forced to give them shelter. Tom was Jack's first love, which ended badly 9 years before, and someone she never expected to see again. However, it seems the town of Lighthouse Cove and the lighthouse itself was a favorite vacation spot of Tom's ex-wife and a place that his daughter insisted on seeing before she goes blind. As Lucy tries to learn about the Mother she doesn't know, Jack and Tom get to know each other again and try to resolve old issues. An emotional story with a few coincidences that didn't gel.… (more)

Harsh memories and even harsher decisions!

A younger son returned from army life. A woman who’d been his friend and companion as a child. As a girl she’d survived a dreadful storm and lightening strikes, but remembers little of it.
Harsh memories of the past; a lordly father, Earl of Ravencroft, brutal and violent, a disappeared mother, two sisters sent to Italy, all take their toll.
Now there’s a smarmy overseer, Mr. Inchwick filling his own pockets from various avenues of the Earl’s, including substandard building materials.
1843 and Captain Simon Harcourt returns from the far flung British empire. Afghanistan this time with a magnificent horse, a Turkoman stallion, he intends to breed.
His father will build him stables at Everdene Hall, a place he’d stormed out of and vowed never to return. The horses and a vow to his dead comrade in arms, Jamie the fiery Scotsman, is what’s brought him back. The price however might be too dear, to clear the village out and relocate the tenants so his father can have an unimpeded view of the valley. (From a Hall his father would never inhabit. It’s only a carriage accident nearby that has him ensconced here at the moment)
But what if something different can happen? Here’s where his childhood accomplice, Penelope Waverly, daughter of an architect comes in. She’s indomitable! I applauded her rescue of the chimney sweep. I loved the story of Penelope building a tree house at a young age. Then there’s her ideas for relocating the village, a winner.
Slightly long winded but an enjoyable read!

An Xpresso Books ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.… (more)