Summer at Seaside Cove (Berkley Sensation) [Mass Market Paperback]

After her half-sister Laurel steals her boyfriend, upset and humiliated Jamie Newman leaves New York to spend the summer at a nice cottage on Seaside Cove, North Carolina away from her dependent family. There she plans to renew her batteries and look at where her life is going starting with ridding herself of her drama queen mom, Laurel and her niece as well as managing the family restaurant.

However, her pleasant bungalow turns out to be a dump. Worse the horde she left in New York followed her to the barrier island as the three females plead with Jamie to rectify their issues. Meanwhile Jamie is attracted to her annoying cottage landlord Nick Trent. He wants a summer fling with his renter who will return to New York so he can hide his past from the woman he desires.

This is an amusing contemporary romance due to a strong cast. The lead couple is a nice pairing who brings an engaging romantic subplot with a touch of intrigue re his secret to the mix. However, her family of Three Stoogettes provides an eccentric jocularity yet also contains a serious theme that focuses on the emotional dependency of the trio on the problem fixer who is a codependent with her need to be needed. This is a wonderful family drama.

Harriet Klausner

I have never read any of Ms. D'Alessandro's books, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Did not want to put it down and I'm very disappointed that the sequel will not be available until 2012. The characters are engaging and fun, the book didn't have a lot of draggy moments, it stayed pretty well on track and a surprise happened regularly with the continual appearance of family members she was trying to take a break from. I found the story to be amusing and funny. I think this is one of those books you just hate to see end.

Jamie Newman has had it! She is constantly taking care of everyone else and falling into things without ever really doing what she wants to do. She has dreams and goals, but since she takes care of all around her she hasn't realized any of them. Finding out that her skinnier, materialistic, OLDER half-sister, Laurel, has been cheating with her current beau is the last straw! Reeling from this bitter betrayal Jamie takes a long overdue vacation to Seaside Cove to reassess, regroup and just find herself. Paradise Lost was supposed to be a cutesy cheap rental, but upon arrival she finds a run-down, in-desperate-need-of-renovation rental that smells as though something crawled inside it and died, was revived, and then died again! Feeling as though if she didn't have bad luck she wouldn't have any luck at all, she finds solace in the only salvageable thing in her dreary world. A bottle of vodka in the freezer! Jamie sits up in her leaky rental, staring out the window all night, and waiting for her landlord to return from his latest bender - only now she looks and smells like she has been on a bender!

Nicholas Trent never realized that the realtor he used to list his property did a bait and switch with internet pictures in order to get a renter. He believed Jamie was embellishing a story and he wasn't too thrilled to find her on his porch bright and early the next morning demanding restitution in some form. Nick found Jamie to be bossy and demanding and felt she was a princess from New York who just couldn't be bothered with "roughing" it. But man she did something to him and he found himself unable to fight his growing attraction to her. Wanting to spend time with her over the summer vacation, but afraid to tell her the complete truth about himself; he glosses over his past leaving out much of the details and just gets to know her in the present.

Summer at Seaside Cove was a breathtaking story with likeable characters that had so much chemistry bubbling between them that you just wanted to watch them mix it up! I have to say Summer at Seaside Cove started off slow, but the minute Nick Trent answered that door in unbuttoned Levi's and bedhead (he had me then and I didn't care if he was on a bender the night before!) and I was prepared to watch the show! Of course Jamie's problems follow her, but they were so funny. Who would have thought that her 46-year-old mother would have a FWB (friends with benefits)? One who is younger and has managed to knock her up too - can you say cougar? Who would have imagined that Jamie's niece would have made her way down to the rental just to be with her loving aunt because she doesn't have that type of relationship with her mother? And let's not forget the lovely betrayer, Laurel. Even she shows up looking to make amends and give explanations for her behavior. The cast of characters in this book are quite enjoyable to read about; they are very friendly and open with their own beliefs and idiosyncrasies and just add more to Summer at Seaside Cove.

Summer at Seaside Cove's flirty dialogue and sexual innuendo is sizzling! I couldn't wait for Nick and Jamie to "hook up" and see how hot their sparks can glow. I never would have imagined that there could be sexual connotations with a nail and a screw - as in building supplies. But there is and I tell you, it had me chuckling. I loved the explanation of "Oh bless your heart" as well. That is a good little phrase to use, but now we are on to you! When Nick offered to show her his if she shows him hers when he catches her staring at something she should not be looking at, (oh my) you could just feel her cheeks flush; perhaps because we have all been there at one time or another. I also liked Nick's insight of being a puppet. I know Jamie didn't like it at first, but I think she came to realize that it was true. So I would have to say that Jacquie D'Alessandro applied some hard truths into Summer at Seaside Cove that readers can actually apply to their lives. That helped to make this story even more rewarding, at least for me.

I have to say that I really didn't care about Nick's past because he was just so hot and distracting when he interacted with Jamie. Usually you want to know about the character's background, but because of the great chemistry and camaraderie, in Summer at Seaside Cove you really didn't care! The past was definitely the past and you lived for the present and the future in Summer at Seaside Cove. I couldn't wait for these two to give into their physical attraction and end this dance because I just knew it will be like the fourth of July in book form!

I did have one complaint about Summer at Seaside Cove though. I felt that perhaps Jamie should have taken a little more time and Laurel should have had to grovel a bit more for forgiveness. Laurel's explanation spoke of jealousy, which was a copout on Laurel's behalf, and had taken time to form and yet, I felt as though Jamie had harbored some jealousy of her own as well. Because of this explanation it made it harder to believe that Laurel could just let something that had been festering for years go in a month! Of course the thorn comes before the rose, but it makes it that much more painful when the thorn is your half-sister! So yeah Jamie had a bit of suffering in order to find her HEA. I know what Jacquie D'Alessandro was getting at about forgiving someone and letting go of the hate, but I think it should have taken more time. Perhaps in the next book we will see that Laurel actually had to work harder at regaining the ground she lost with her half-sister because of her betrayal. I Joyfully Recommend Summer at Seaside Cove for the above reasons and so many more!

Vanessa
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed