Dune Island #1
Making her way up the cedar-lined driveway, tears fill her eyes at the sight of the cottage’s faded trim and peeling turquoise shutters. Taking a deep breath, she grasps the heart-shaped iron door handle and steps inside the once-happy childhood home she’s been avoiding. It is time to face up to the past…
When Emily’s fiancé walks out on her while she’s still grieving the loss of her family in a terrible accident, she escapes back to Hope Haven on the remote Dune Island, where her family vacationed every summer. Emily hopes that fixing up the house will also mend her broken heart, but the cottage holds more than just bittersweet childhood memories. Emptying her father’s antique writing desk, Emily finds a letter that reveals a devastating secret about her parents.
With a head full of questions that can never be answered, it seems like returning to the island was the worst decision Emily ever made… until she meets Lucas Socorro, saltwater dripping from his dark curls after a surf session. As they take long walks on the soft sand, and talk late into the firefly-lit night, Emily wonders if Dr Luke—as the kids in the hospital call him—could be the one to help her heal. With Luke holding her hand, delving into her family’s painful past is a little easier.
Painting the gloomy cottage walls the colour of seashells, and revamping her grandmother’s flea-market furniture, Emily starts to feel she might call Dune Island home for good—and that she could build that home right here with Luke. But when Emily’s family secret spreads through a network of local gossips, her fragile heart breaks all over again. Luke is the only one who could have started the rumours. Was she wrong to trust him so easily?
As the sun sets behind the dunes, Emily has a difficult decision to make. Does she pack her bags and leave the island for good? Or take a risk that Hope Haven has everything she’s been looking for?
Review
How long are you allowed to grief for? Well, that depends from one person to another of course and it should be allowed for as long as that persons needs to come to terms.
Not everybody handles devastating events the same way. Some love to be surrounded by others in order to share memories. Others prefer to spend time alone to reminisce and it’s not always easy for partners to know what they do best.
This book is a beautiful summer read filled with sad memories but no matter how much you hurt there is a speck of gold at the end of the rainbow if you let it in.
It’s great to see how Emily changes during those few months on Dune Island. She’s lost her whole family and it turned her into a wreck, but little by little she starts to heal.
Once again we see that people often jump to conclusions without hearing the other person out. Emotions more than once rule one’s world. 4 stars.
Thank you, Kristin Harper and Bookouture
About the author
Ever since she was a young girl, there were few things Kristin liked more than creative writing and spending time on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with her family. Eventually (after a succession of jobs that bored her to tears), she found a way to combine those two passions by becoming a women’s fiction author whose stories occur in oceanside settings. While Kristin doesn’t live on the Cape year-round, she escapes to the beach whenever she can.
Author Link
@KHarperAuthor
Book Links
Amazon: https://bit.ly/2YcPvOS
Apple: https://apple.co/2zhKkUu
Kobo: https://bit.ly/2UsPV1F
Google: https://bit.ly/3h6AtBL
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