Imagine growing up and looking out of your bedroom window, in fact any window in your house and seeing nothing but ocean, rugged landscape surrounding you as nature does what nature does best, carries on around you with no thought of what you might be going through.
This is how I feel Rosie Merchant our main protagonist in the story feels. She has returned to Driftwood House, the house of the title, to deal with her mother’s unexpected death. She just wants to move on, return to her life in Spain and forget that this was the place she felt she never belonged.
But the house and the village of Heaven’s Cove which the house looks down on, seems to be drawing her in piece by piece and it isn’t going to let go.
Rosie comes across old school friends and acquaintances that have not left the village but have made it their home. Nessa, now a single mum reconnects with Rosie and reminds her of all the good that is around, no matter what happens to you. Liam, a former schoolgirl crush of Rosie’s is now a rugged farmer and dealing with his father’s slow decline whilst still trying to turn a profit on the farm, difficult when you rent land from the local landed gentry the Eppings, a family not well liked in the village.
Rosie makes the biggest discovery of all when she finds out her childhood home does not belong to her, but the Eppings as well. Then a photograph of her as a child seems to open up a Pandora’s box of secrets that can no longer be contained.
If Rosie has to face the truth of the past she needs to decided what her future is going to be, where it is going to be and with whom.
This is a great start to the Heaven’s Cove series and has all the right mix of likeable and disagreeable characters for you to fall in love with, laugh with and strangle in some cases! I look forward to returning because I think there are plenty of other stories to discover about some of the residents and the stunning backdrop of the setting is a winning feature for me.
A warm comforting read to get completely lost in. Perfect.
Thank you to the publisher via netgalley for the opportunity top read this book.
Secrets at the Last House Before the Sea is out now.
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