The Twelve Days of Christmas in September: Day Two--A Seaside Christmas

A Seaside Christmas

By Sherryl Woods

Publisher: Harlequin Mira

Release Date: 

September 24, 2013

Songwriter Jenny Collins is coming home for Christmas for the first time in several years. She has avoided Chesapeake Shores for the most part since her mother’s marriage to Thomas O’Brien left Jenny feeling like an outsider. This feeling was exacerbated when Connie and Thomas announced Connie’s pregnancy during the O’Brien family trip to Ireland (An O’Brien Family Christmas, Book 8, 2011). 

Jenny ran away from that news, and the distance between her and her family has continued to grow since then. She is little more than a stranger to her four-year-old half-brother, Sean Michael. Jenny knows her jealousy and resentment are childish, and she misses the closeness she and her mother had always enjoyed. But she can’t seem to control the complex swirl of emotions that keep her from accepting that she has a place in her mother’s new family. Even now, she is in Chesapeake Shores at the urging of Bree O’Brien Collins, wife of Jenny’s Uncle Jake (Flowers on Main, Book 2, 2009), who has persuaded Jenny to write songs for the Christmas play Bree has written to be performed at her theater in December. Jenny loves Bree and Jake, but if she’s honest with herself, she knows that her reluctance to spend another Christmas alone in Nashville reliving her breakup with country music superstar Caleb Green is also a factor in her decision to return to Chesapeake Shores.

Two years ago Caleb Green self-destructed. His alcohol abuse and the drunken revels that made tabloid headlines of his infidelity destroyed his career as front man for one of country music’s hottest bands and ended his professional and personal collaboration with Jenny Collins, one of the industry’s most successful songwriters and the only woman to win Caleb’s heart. After a stint in rehab, Caleb is sober and determined to remain so, and he’s ready and eager to reclaim his place on country charts and in Jenny’s life. When he hears a young singer perform a song that Caleb knows will be perfect to jumpstart his career as a solo artist, a heartbreak song that is unmistakably Jenny’s work, he makes plans to head for Chesapeake Shores, hoping to persuade Jenny to give him her song and a second chance.

Forgiveness and reconciliation are the themes of this tenth book and third Christmas tale in Sherryl Woods’s popular Chesapeake Shores series. They are themes that Woods has used effectively throughout this series as the vividly drawn, vital O’Briens and their various connections laugh and love and live out their often tangled, complicated lives, and they seem particularly appropriate in a Christmas story.

Jenny and Caleb are richly human, imperfect characters, and their very real flaws may loom unforgivably large for some readers. Jenny’s reaction to her mother’s marriage and to Sean Michael makes her seem selfish and self-absorbed, but there are mitigating factors. She is still quite young when Connie and Thomas marry and only a bit older when Sean Michael is born, and self-absorption is a credible characteristic in the young. Also, her father’s absence from her life has left her with insecurities, and she has grown up as the focus of her mother’s love. Once Jenny distances herself from her family, accepting the role of the prodigal requires a humility and self-knowledge that are difficult to achieve. Her choices are not always admirable, but they are consistent with her character, credible with her circumstances, and convincing means to demonstrate growth.

Caleb too may seem rather too self-interested in his eagerness to gain the rights to record Jenny’s song, but in his case too, this is a flaw consistent with who he is. Given his profession, it makes sense that he has an economy-sized ego. Given his history, it makes sense that he has deep-seated insecurities. His fall from grace was profound and public; thus, he has a great deal personally and professionally riding on a successful comeback. His success with Jenny’s songs has already been established, and his emotional investment in this particular song is significant. And once he sees Jenny again, the song is no longer his top priority.

I loved seeing Jenny and Caleb’s story play out against the backdrop of an O’Brien holiday gathering. I loved seeing Jenny’s reconciliation with all of her family; I loved the family ties, the bonds of friendship, and the new generation of O’Briens growing up. Bree is one of my favorite characters in the series, and so I was particularly pleased to see her writing dream come true. I’ve been a Sherryl Woods reader for a long time, but I’ve found some of her recent novels disappointing. But A Seaside Christmas left me with a sigh of satisfaction, a Christmassy heart, and a wish to spend another Christmas with the O’Briens. If you are a fan of Woods’s O’Briens, you don’t want to miss this one. If you have a soft spot for a Christmas romance filled with family, friends, and forgiveness as well as lovers, add this one to your list.

One of the things that keep me reading romance fiction is that redemption and reconciliation are common themes in the genre. I believe in second chances. What theme in romance resonates most with you?

A Baker's Dozen of Reviews: Day Eight--Sea Glass Island

Sea Glass Island By Sherryl Woods Publisher: Harlequin Mira Release Date: June 1, 2013
Samantha Castle, oldest of the three Castle sisters, has returned to Sand Castle Bay, North Carolina, for her sister Emily’s wedding to Boone Dorsett, but this time she may be back for good. Her acting career in New York is fizzling out now that she’s in her mid-thirties and an ever-replenishing supply of younger hopefuls are competing for and winning the commercial shoots and short-term soap opera roles that used to go to Samantha. The passion that once fueled her dream seems to have fizzled as well. These days Samantha finds herself longing for the kind of balance her younger sisters Emily and Gabo have found with fulfilling careers and a man devoted to seeing they live happily ever after. Samantha has a lot of thinking to do, but her sisters have joined that inveterate matchmaker, their grandmother, in pairing maid-of-honor Samantha with Boone’s best friend and best man, physician Ethan Cole, the guy Samantha had a super-size crush on as a teenager.

Ethan Cole doesn’t believe in happily-ever-after for most people, but he’s willing to admit that his pal Boone and Emily Castle have something special. He’s even reluctantly willing to go along with all the wedding hoopla that his role as Boone’s best man dictates, but not even gorgeous, sexy Samantha Castle is going to change his mind about his own love life, or lack thereof, no matter how many times the two of them are manipulated into one another’s company. Boone decided when his fiancée dumped him after he returned from Afghanistan minus a leg that his work at the clinic he operates with his old friend and fellow-vet, Greg Knotts, and his volunteer efforts with Project Pride, a program dedicated to increasing the self-esteem of disabled children and teenagers, would be his focus. No one else is ever going to get close enough to break his heart again.

But there’s just something in the air of Sand Castle Bay that encourages even the unlikeliest dreams of romance. Between Samantha’s determined relatives, the sizzling chemistry between her and Ethan, and Samantha’s own shoot-from-the-hip honesty, Ethan’s determination is soon wavering. If he and Samantha can just trust themselves and their love for one another, they may discover their HEA after all.

Sea Glass Island is the conclusion to the Ocean Breeze trilogy of the prolific Sherryl Woods. Samantha and Ethan, like the rest of the Sand Castle Bay crew, are likeable characters, and it’s easy enough to root for them. But the conflict in the story is strictly a one-note song with Ethan clinging tenaciously to the serene, peaceful life he has built for himself, free from romantic complications and the possibility of more emotional pain. It seems a long time for a man who is so well-adjusted in all other areas to allow his life to be shaped by the rejection of a shallow woman. I was also disappointed that the sibling rivalry issue was resolved so simplistically. Still, it’s a sweet story, and the romances expand to promise not only weddings for the three Castle sisters but also for the widowed Cora Jane and her long-time swain and even a love interest for the sisters’ formerly emotionally distant father.

This trilogy is not Woods’s best work, lacking the complexities and depth of some of her Sweet Magnolias Chesapeake Shores books. But the community is idyllic, the characters appealing, and the sweetness factor high enough to keep the author’s devoted fans happy.



If I were still grading books, this one would be a C-C+ read for me. In my system, that means, it’s an ok read, but not a keeper since I don’t expect to reread it. What puts a book in the C range for you?

Bonus Review: Wind Chime Point

Wind Chime Point

By Sherryl Woods

Publisher: Harlequin Mira

Release Date: April 30, 2013

Gabriella is the Castle sister most driven to win the approval of her emotionally distant father. She chose her career with this in mind, and she has devoted herself to being the best in her job as a public relations executive for a biomedical research company. But an unplanned pregnancy leaves her without a job and her boyfriend’s response to her pregnancy is to forget their five-year relationship and remove himself from the picture as rapidly as possible. What’s a girl to do when her perfect life lies in pieces and she has major decisions to make? If you are a Castle, the answer is to leave her Raleigh, north Carolina apartment and head to the Outer Banks and Sand Castle Bay where her grandmother, Cora Jane Castle, will supply hugs, food, and advice and her sisters Emily and Samantha will be her support system while they plan Emily’s wedding.

Wade Johnson, cabinet maker and wood carver extraordinaire, fell for Gabi at first sight, and even a visibly pregnant Gabi fails to dim his interest. Gabi is not interested in a new relationship or in being the latest Castle subject to her grandmother’s matchmaking. But Cora Jane is an irresistible force, and Wade’s good looks and gallantry prove irresistible too. The HEA is in sight, but there are obstacles that must be overcome first. Gabi wants the best for her baby and that may mean adoption. Wade still has unresolved issues related to the wife and unborn child who died in an accident, and he has a bossy sister bent on protecting her brother.

Wind Chime Point is the second book in Sherryl Woods’s Ocean Breeze series. Once again the author gives her readers likeable characters in a charming setting with a sweet love story as the main course and a side dish of family dynamics.  Fans of the first book in the series, Sand Castle Bay, will be pleased to see Emily and Boone in the midst of wedding plans, and a secondary plot involving a deserving teen befriended by Wade and the Castle family adds interest. This is a gentle, agreeable read that contains few surprises.

I was surprised—and not happily--by the speed with which Gabi and Wade begin having quite intimate conversations. The two are mere acquaintances when Gabi returns to the island, and yet he asks about the father of her child immediately.  And she gives him a detailed answer. The conversation at that stage felt off to me, and it seemed out of character for Wade, an extraordinarily sensitive man. Except for that scene and Wade’s sister whom I found irritating, I liked this story well enough to look forward to Sea Glass Island, Samantha’s book, which releases on May 28. It promises a more complicated hero and the resolution to some sibling tension between Emily and Samantha.

Two of Sherryl Woods’s most popular series are her Sweet Magnolia novels (ten books) and her Chesapeake Shores stories (nine books). The Ocean Breeze books evidently will end with the third book. Do you prefer short series—trilogies and quartets—or are you happy to see a favorite series run to a dozen books or more?

Tuesday Review: Midnight Promises

Midnight Promises

Sweet Magnolias #8
By Sherryl Woods
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Release Date: June 26, 2012

Fans of Sherryl Woods’s Sweet Magnolia series will remember Karen Ames, a divorcee with two children who is sous chef at Dana Sue Sullivan’s restaurant, and Elliott Cruz, personal trainer at the Corner Spa owned by the original Magnolias—Madie Maddox, Dana Sue Sullivan, and Helen Decatur Whitney. Karen and Elliot’s love story is a secondary plot in Feels Like Family (Sweet Magnolias #3).

Midnight Promises picks up a few years and five books later. Karen and Elliott married against the objections of his devout Catholic family who aren’t happy that their son and brother married a divorced woman, but except for some in-law problems, the two are happy together, building a family and saving money for a baby. Then some of the men in town, most of them Sweet Magnolia spouses, decide Serenity, South Carolina, needs a gym that will offer a masculine equivalent of the services the Corner Spa offers women. Elliott has a chance to be part of the new business. It could pay off big in income and personal satisfaction, but it will mean using all the savings he and Karen have accumulated, including their baby fund. He knows Karen’s insecurities about money stemming from the load of debt her ex left her with make it unlikely that she will support using their savings for the new venture, and so he delays sharing information about the opportunity with her. When Karen hears the news from another source, she’s angry. Now they have two things to argue about—money and secrets.

Woods offers a surprisingly realistic look at the problems that can arise and create friction even in a solid marriage when unresolved issues linger. Experts tell us that money disputes are a leading cause of divorce, as are communication problems. In Karen and Elliot’s case, Karen’s reluctance to allow Elliott to adopt her children and Elliott’s unconscious adopting some of the patriarchal attitudes of his Hispanic heritage add to the pressures on their marriage.  A subplot involves infidelity, another leading cause of divorce. The question of divorce for Adelia Hernandez, one of Elliott’s sisters whose husband is a flagrant, unrepentant cheater, is complicated by the Cruz family’s Catholicism and by Adelia’s fears that she will be unable to support herself and her children.  

It’s been two years since Woods has given her fans a Sweet Magnolias book. Fans of the series will be delighted to see most of their favorites from the earlier books make an appearance in Midnight Promises. Three generations of Magnolias prove their loyalty to their sisters of the heart as they share good times and bad, laughter and tears, advice and margaritas. Karen and Elliott’s story is a refreshing look at what happens after the HEA. The continuation of their story is complex and credible, but it is also filled with the humor and warmth that are characteristic of Sherryl Woods’s books.

I’ve been disappointed in some of her recent Chesapeake Shores books, and thus I was especially pleased to find the kind of story that made her a favorite author in Midnight Promises. I’ve already read Catching Fireflies (July 31) and Where Azaleas Bloom (August 28), and they continue the strong storytelling and unexpected twists that makes Midnight Promises a winner. If you are a Woods fan, I suggest you preorder all three of this summer’s trilogy now. If you’ve never read Woods, Midnight Promises is a good place to start. You don’t have to have read the first seven books in the series to enjoy this one, although it may set you to glomming Woods—or at least her Sweet Magnolia books.

Food and drink are an important part of the Magnolias’ girls nights. In fact, August 28 will see the release of The Sweet Magnolias Cookbook, which will include the recipe for Helen’s Lethal Margaritas. Are you a fan of mixing recipes with your fiction? Have you ever tried a recipe from a novel?

Tuesday Review: The Summer Garden

The Summer Garden

By Sherryl Woods
Publisher: Mira
Release Date: January 31, 2012

Moira Malone and Luke O’Brien met in An O’Brien Family Christmas (2011), the eighth book in Woods’s Chesapeake Shore series. Luke was interested enough in “Maddening Moira” to remain in Ireland when the rest of the O’Briens returned to Chesapeake Shores. But Luke is back home now, and while Moira is still in his thoughts, so is the Irish pub that he’s planning to open in his hometown, and Kristen Lewis, the woman he distracted when she was creating complications in his sister Susie’s marriage, is a pleasurable companion when he needs one.


Moira is in Ireland, working in McDonough’s Pub, finding unexpected success with her photography, thinking about Luke and becoming increasingly frustrated with his say-nothing emails. When her grandfather invites her to accompany him on his visit to Nell O’Brien, the temptation to see Luke again and find out how important she is to him is too great to resist.

From the beginning, Dillon O’Malley, Moira’s grandfather, and Nell O’Brien, Luke’s grandmother have high hopes that Moira and Luke will realize that they are a perfect pair. The extended O’Brien clan warms up to the idea a little more slowly, but they soon discover Moira has changed from the rebellious termagant they met in Ireland. They quickly grow fond of her, and they’re happy to do their bit in matchmaking schemes. But things aren’t quite so simple.

Although Luke is happy to see Moira and ready to admit she has claimed his heart, he is too immersed in his new business venture to make plans for the future on the personal side. As the youngest O’Brien grandchild and the one who has had no clear sense of what he wanted to do with his life, he feels that he has to justify the faith his grandmother has shown in him by releasing his inheritance and that he has to prove himself to his overachieving family.

Moira is ready for forever. While she is pleased with the praise her photography wins in Ireland and in Chesapeake Shores, she’s less interested in a career than in becoming a wife and mother and in creating the kind of family she never had. She loves Luke, and she also loves the exuberant O’Briens and the feeling of belonging they give her. But with Luke saying maybe later and Moira thinking now or never, resolution seems impossible. While the drama of Moira and Luke’s relationship is playing out, Dillon and Nell are enjoying a quieter courtship, at least until Nell has some health problems that give everyone a scare.

The Summer Garden is the concluding book in this long-running series, and it works beautifully in that role. All the O’Briens are present and accounted for, the next generation of O’Briens is increasing, and HEAs abound. I loved catching glimpses of all the previous pairs and seeing their relationships in progress, and I loved Nell and Dillon’s second-chance-at-love subplot. The central romance was less satisfying for me. Luke and Moira are both likeable characters, and the chemistry between them is strong. But they seem very young (He’s twenty-four and she’s younger), and they both have some fairly heavy baggage. I would have liked to see the relationship develop more slowly. I’m generally an HEA reader all the way, but this time, I’d have been glad to see one HFN among all the lifetime commitments.

 Chesapeake Shore Series:

The Inn at Eagle Point
Flower on Main
Harbor Lights
A Chesapeake Shores Christmas
Driftwood Cottage
Moonlight Cove
Beach Lane
An O'Brien Family Christmas
The Summer Garden

How do you feel about series that run past three or four books? Do they seem to be more common recently? What’s the best conclusion to a series you’ve read?

Kathleen, you are the winner the Reading Questions giveaway. Please email me at jangarho at gmail dot com and we'll get the details straight so that I can get a book to you.