Enjoyable! 'Bookshop By The Sea' - by Denise Hunter

 

About the book:

When her mother became bedridden and her father bailed on the family, Sophie became a second mother to her twin brother, Seth, and younger sister, Jenna. Sophie supported her siblings through college, putting aside her own dream--opening a book shop in Hideaway Cove, a North Carolina beach town they frequented as children. Now it’s finally time for Sophie to bring her dream to fruition. Seth has graduated from NCU, the family house is sold, and Jenna is set to marry her college sweetheart in Hideaway Cove. But the destination wedding will also reunite Sophie with best man Aiden Maddox, her high school sweetheart who left her without a backward glance to run an extreme sporting business in Florida.

Much to Sophie’s chagrin, seeing Aiden again resurrects all those old feelings. But she’s not about to give him the time of day. The wedding goes smoothly, if one can dismiss the low-key tension between Sophie and Aiden, and Sophie can turn her focus to establishing the bookshop of her dreams.

But then the advancing hurricane strands Aiden in Hideaway Cove, and with the hotels booked to capacity he begs Sophie to put him up until the storm passes. As the two ride out the weather, past hurts are put to rest and old feelings rise to the surface. But can Sophie trust Aiden to stick around? And does daredevil Aiden have the courage to risk his heart?

My review:

This was a sweet second chance love story!  I loved the setting of the beach and the bookstore, two of my favorite things together!  The community of people she met were amazing and really rallied around her in her time of need.  I hope we get stories about some of them in the future!  Sophie and Aiden reconnected and realized their feelings never disappeared but they might just have some of the same issues as before.  I actually was pretty frustrated with Sophie as she kept doing favors for her siblings and even her dad when she was incredibly busy and even to the detriment of her health and safety and they didn't seem to care.  She definitely had some problems with boundaries.  They both were dealing with some abandonment issues because of a parent but in different ways.  They also both were people of faith but not perfect as God was still working on them.  It was fun to see a couple of old friends from Denise Hunter's previous series.  I would recommend this book if you enjoy love stories.

I received a kindle copy of this book free from NetGalley.  I was not compensated for this review.  All opinions are my own.