Sandcastle Beach by Jenny Holiday

Maya Mehta and Benjamin "Law" Lawson have been fighting for more years than anyone can remember. It started when they were teens (at least she was) and has carried on into their twenties. As any character in the book (or any reader of the other two books in this series) could fairly easily tell, these two were meant for each other. 

Maya Mehta needs the new grant that the town is offering. She has created a theater group that is just months away from failing. She's hooked a former boy band-er to come and be in her next play but the money would SO come in handy in renovating her falling-apart theater.

Law needs the grant the town is offering. He is third generation operating the family bar and he's ready to expand into a restaurant as well. But he doesn't want to mortgage (and possibly lose) the bar.)

Mirroring the play that Maya is putting on, <i>Much Ado About Nothing</i>, the two find that their squabbling might just be hiding a bigger attraction than either of them realize. The story does get a little hokey in places but previous readers of the series will be familiar with the level of sweetness and be prepared for it. This is my favorite book in the series so far and I am already ready to read the next one.

Three stars

This book comes out March 9th
Follows Paradise Cove
ARC kindly provided by Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Paradise Cove by Jenny Holiday

Being a female doctor is tough. It's a hard world to break into and then there are all of the hours you have to work. That doesn't really make it conducive to having a relationship. Even if you're dating another doctor. Especially if you walk in the door and find said other doctor screwing a resident on your couch. Even more disheartening is realizing that the past few years of your life have been directed by your ex.

Dr. Nora Walsh is dealing with ALL of that. She sees a notice that there is an opening for a small town doctor in Paradise Cove and she decides to take the position but her plan is just to stay for two years, pay off her student debt and save for a house that she can share with her sister. She's not looking for a forever home or a forever love.

For his part, Jake Ramsey is barely even looking for someone to grunt in the general of. He lost his infant son to the flu and his marriage imploded soon after. He barely even wants to talk to the friends he's had since childhood. His life is all about helping out around town and that's what leads him to be one of the first people to meet Nora. They share a pretty intense experience and then... start hanging out. Nora gives him sympathy but not too much and not too little. She's the Baby Bear of sympathy. 

From the beginning, I was really hoping that a particular plot line wouldn't pop up. But it did. While Holiday is an entertaining writer and I am very much looking forward to Maya and Law's story, the end of this book was just a little to fraught to feel like there was a concrete resolution.

This book comes out July 28th

Follows Mermaid Inn

Followed by Sandcastle Beach

ARC kindly provided by Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Mermaid Inn by Jenny Holiday

I have enjoyed other books by Ms. Holiday but this one just didn't resonate as well. I think part of the problem was that this took place over a year which should have been great for the relationship development but, instead, we just dipped in and out of different days making it feel a little bit more shallow. And I wish Eve hadn't let Sawyer off so easy for making life decisions for her even if it was "better in the end." That's a BS reason to make decisions for somebody else and that seems to be a theme in romance novels I'm reading lately, men making sweeping life decisions for women because they "know" best. In at least one other book the guy figured out his mistake and I guess Sawyer sort of did but I wish we had seen more.

Two and a half stars
Followed by Paradise Cove
This book came out January 28th, 2020
Borrowed this book from the library
Opinions are my own