June 30, 2014
Prolific author Macomber’s mastery of women’s fiction is evident in her latest (following Blossom Street Brides). Jo Marie Rose is the proprietor of Rose Harbor Inn, a bed-and-breakfast in Cedar Cove, Wash. Jo Marie has been taking solace in her work at the Inn since her husband died two years ago. Maggie and Roy Porter are planning an anniversary weekend at Rose Harbor, to be paid for by Roy’s parents. Sheltered young Eleanor “Ellie” Reynolds also reserves a room, only to cancel and then rebook her reservation. While preparing for the weekend, Jo Marie tries to learn something about her gruff handyman Mark Taylor’s past. But after meeting her guests, she realizes that satisfying her curiosity will be the least of her worries. Ellie is meeting a man against her mother’s wishes, and Roy Porter doesn’t appear to be enjoying his “idyllic” getaway. Macomber breathes life into each plotline, carefully intertwining her characters’ stories to ensure that none of them overshadow the others. Yet it is her ability to capture different facets of emotion which will entrance fans and newcomers alike. Agent: Theresa Park, Park Literary Group.
August 1, 2014
The sounds of bickering permeate the walls of a bed-and-breakfast in the latest installment of the best-selling author's Rose Harbor series. Jo Marie Rose was newly widowed and looking for a fresh start when she founded the Rose Harbor Inn in the Pacific Northwest town of Cedar Cove. Two years later, she's still in mourning after receiving her soldier husband's last letter, which he had written years ago in the event of his death. Her relationship with her dud of a handyman, Mark Taylor, has all the signs of going nowhere-he doesn't open up about himself, and Jo Marie's strained conversations with him as she tries to win him over with homemade cookies are painful to read-until she puts it together that he may be hiding a troubled past. Jo Marie's guests are in even more awkward predicaments-Maggie and Roy Porter are trying to rekindle their romance after problems with infidelity, and young Ellie Reynolds has escaped from her overbearing mother to try to connect with a guy she met on a dating site. While the married couple tries to fill uncomfortable silences with false cheer, Ellie's excitement turns to horror when her date catfishes her with an ulterior motive for meeting her. The fights that ensue are so bitter that each time the door opens on one couple, it's a relief to leave the other behind. But hope surfaces in old letters in which Roy reveals his devotion to Maggie, Jo Marie's husband shares his hopes for her future without him, and a game-changing revelation about Ellie's past sheds new light on a complicated relationship. Hurt feelings are mended in believable and unexpectedly uplifting ways, and a cliffhanger ending for Jo Marie begs for a swift resolution in the next book.
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June 1, 2014
The third entry in Macomber's best-selling Rose Harbor series finds innkeeper Jo Marie repeatedly telling her friends and neighbors that Mark is merely the inn's handyman, and she's not interested in him outside of how quickly he can put up a new gazebo. But she ends up thinking more and more about the reclusive man and eventually starts poking around in his past. Tensions rise when Mark discovers Jo Marie's probing and doesn't like it one bit. Meanwhile, new guests arrive at the inn, bringing their own troubled pasts along with them. Ellie is there to meet a man she only knows via Facebook, while Maggie and Roy have booked a weekend as a last-ditch effort to save their failing marriage. Loads of secrets abound, families are brought together while others are torn apart, and, of course, love conquers all in the end. As per usual, Macomber's fans will be lining up to see what happens in this gentle and heartwarming read, and they won't be disappointed.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)
Starred review from August 1, 2014
Romance and a little mystery abound in this third installment of Macomber's series set at Cedar Cove's Rose Harbor Inn. Innkeeper Jo Marie Rose is working through her grief over the loss of her husband--and working more closely with handyman Mark Taylor as well. She sets out to learn what she can about him and in the process discovers more about herself than she bargained. Meanwhile, her guests are struggling with questions of their own. At 23, Ellie Reynolds has defied her mother and arranged to meet Tom, whom she's been corresponding with. Could he be her dream man? Maggie Porter and her husband, Roy, are on a roller-coaster ride of emotions, hoping they can resolve their differences and mend their broken marriage on a weekend getaway at the inn. Lives touched by missives written long ago tie each story together, but is a love letter enough to keep what they hold so dear from being torn apart? VERDICT Readers of Robyn Carr and Sherryl Woods will enjoy Macomber's latest, which will have them flipping pages until the end and eagerly anticipating the next installment. [See Prepub Alert, 3/15/14.]--Jane Blue, Prince William Cty. Lib. Syst., VA
Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
March 1, 2014
Special letters give guests hope at Cedar Cove's Rose Harbor Inn, the setting of many hit Macomber reads (in paperback, The Inn at Rose Harbor was her longest-running New York Times best seller ever).
Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
August 1, 2014
Romance and a little mystery abound in this third installment of Macomber's series set at Cedar Cove's Rose Harbor Inn. Innkeeper Jo Marie Rose is working through her grief over the loss of her husband--and working more closely with handyman Mark Taylor as well. She sets out to learn what she can about him and in the process discovers more about herself than she bargained. Meanwhile, her guests are struggling with questions of their own. At 23, Ellie Reynolds has defied her mother and arranged to meet Tom, whom she's been corresponding with. Could he be her dream man? Maggie Porter and her husband, Roy, are on a roller-coaster ride of emotions, hoping they can resolve their differences and mend their broken marriage on a weekend getaway at the inn. Lives touched by missives written long ago tie each story together, but is a love letter enough to keep what they hold so dear from being torn apart? VERDICT Readers of Robyn Carr and Sherryl Woods will enjoy Macomber's latest, which will have them flipping pages until the end and eagerly anticipating the next installment. [See Prepub Alert, 3/15/14.]--Jane Blue, Prince William Cty. Lib. Syst., VA
Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.