We have all had that dream. Being away in a hotel or the ilk and sitting there, dreaming that if it was mine you would do this and have that as decoration. But as soon as you are back to the reality of your life, it remains just that a dream.
But for Lisa and George the dream becomes reality. A very harsh reality.
Lisa is spiky with a kind heart. She has been hurt in the past and she is determined never to let this affect her here and now and her future. George is conscious of all decisions that he makes and that affect its going to have. One thing he does know is he is bored in his current role and needs to stretch his creative wings.
This is how this lovely couple find themselves at the Rocks Hotel, Mariscombe and finding that to create the perfect place is going to be a lot more difficult than they first thought. Especially when it seems that a local man, Bruno also had his eye on the property for his ever-growing investments and he is also a hotel owner in the area.
It looks like there is going to be a battle down on the beach in Mariscombe.
What makes this novel even richer is all the characters that also feature. We do not just get to see the birth of the new Rocks Hotel with Lisa and George, we also get to see how Bruno is trying to focus his attentions on what he thought was a destination hotel – it seems it is not. There is a lot of people who need to help make everything happen. It is at Bruno’s hotel, that we get to meet Molly. She has a secret which is going to affect everyone. It is not just life changing for her but for the whole of Mariscombe who have believed one thing and one thing only – but what is it?
This is a book where you can live the dream, you can paint the walls without getting dirty, you can listen to the sea without getting wet and admire the view without leaving the comfort of your bed. That is the brilliance of Veronica Henry’s writing I feel.
I wish Molly had come into the story a lot earlier than she did and I was a bit sadden by the way some relationships went, but not all dreams come out exactly how you think they will. Neither will this book which kept me reading and reminded me why I enjoy Veronica Henry’s novels so much.
The particular edition I read also contained the short story A Sea Change which is worth a read if you just need a quick bit of escapism or new to this author’s work. I am sure you will be wanting to read more after that.
The Book Jotter 