I totally paused!

Image Courtesy of Goodreads.  I couldn’t find anything bigger!

Synopsis: Mayor Emily Warwick can’t remember the last time she let herself dream.  That’s something she did in her old life – when she allowed herself to hope.  Now her days are consumed by the responsibilities of her job and the incessant demands of her elderly mother.  And then there’s her younger sister, Jessica, who is about to walk down the aisle with a man their mother despises.

Emily has two months to bring their mother around, but so far – even with their minister’s support – her plan isn’t working.  And it doesn’t help that Emily’s still mourning the husband she lost and wondering what happened to the baby she gave up for adoption twenty years ago.  Sometimes she thinks it would take a miracle to fill the hope in her heart.

My Review: As I mentioned in my review of Cape Light, I didn’t totally love that book.  And while I didn’t *love* this one either, I liked it quite a bit more than the first book.  I felt like I was meeting back up with people I hadn’t seen in awhile – some of which I wasn’t so fond of – but old acquaintances and friends alike.

One of the big benefits of this book for me was that it focused more on the Warwick family, which to me are the people I was really interested in hearing more about.  While there are bits of the rest of the characters in this novel, the majority of it was about the Warwicks and their individual situations, telling things about the other characters more as they fell into the Warwick story.

The book also picked up pretty much where the last one left off, which I loved.  I have mentioned before that I’m a “what happens next” kind of gal, so a story picking up right away is fantastic in my world!  And in reading about the next book, it looks like that one picks up right away too, and I kind of wish I had it right now – and that my reading schedule would accommodate it at the moment.

The primary focus of this book is the mayoral election, and Jessica’s wedding – two things that involve Emily directly.  Watching the race unfold was actually pretty frustrating, and I found myself wondering many times “what does anyone see in Charlie Bates?” because the man is just insufferable!  I’m not going to tell you how that all turns out, you’ll just have to read the book to find out

On the whole, I feel that the first book in the series was a great setup for this one, and I really am looking forward to seeing what the future books have to bring.

Read this book if: You read the first book.  I can definitely say this is worth following up on and continuing the series, at this point anyway.

Synopsis: Nestled in New England stands the picturesque little village of Cape Light, a seaside hamlet where folks still enjoy a strong sense of community, and everybody knows everybody’s business.  But the many inhabitants of Cape Light have their share of hidden dreams, desires, and doubts as well.

Like Mayor Emily Warwick, whose secret from the past just arrived in town, and her sister, Jessica, who has forgone her own ambitions to care for their ailing mother.

Or Reverend Ben, who counsels and consoles an entire town while coming to grips with his own private sorrows, and Charlie, the owner of the local diner whose no-nonsense talk and political aspirations make him the center of controversy.

They are friends and neighbors, doers and dreamers.  They are the people who laugh and love and build their lives together in the town of Cape Light – and their stories will capture your heart.

My Review: I knew nothing about this book when I saw it at the library one day.  I was looking for the first book in any series, as the one I really went in for was checked out by the time I arrived.  So I’m glad I can say that I had no expectations, because that leaves no room to be let down.

I wanted to love this book, and there are parts of it that I did, but on the whole I just don’t feel passionate about it.  It was a decent story, and I’ll probably read at least the second book in the series, but one of the things that I felt took away from it was the overall religious theme, so if that piece becomes more prominent, I will likely not finish the series.

I have no problem with religious books in general, but I guess I dislike the idea that people can be so willing to attribute so much to God.  I will never claim to be an expert on religion or spirituality, and I suppose it’s possible that people can be guided, but I firmly believe that your actions are in your own hands and responsibility falls on each of us individually.  So the theme of praying and letting your faith guide you was a little problematic to me.

Another issue I had was that the story jumped from telling one persons story to telling another.  While I get that all these people’s lives are intertwined, and they all know what’s going on with each other, I found that I didn’t care about most of them.  I mean, I’m not a small town kind of gal, so perhaps that’s why I feel that many of these small town stories are really dull.

That being said, I really liked the Warwick family, and felt that Jessica in particular is a lot like me.  In fact, if you want to know what I’m like for reals, just read the descriptions of Jessica towards the beginning of the book.  I loved watching her story unfold, and while I think I would have made a slightly different decision in the end, I completely understood where she was coming from.  I look forward to seeing where the future books take her, and I hope she retains a good sense of herself, as I hate to see women caught up in only doing what the men in their lives want them to do.

I never thought I’d say this either, but I found myself wondering, “where’s the sex?”  Jessica forms a pretty serious relationship with a guy in the book, and there’s not a single mention of sex.  As a realistic, sexually empowered woman of likely the same age as Jessica, I don’t know how or why that relationship wasn’t sexual.  I’m not advocating that people just jump in the sack right away, but…don’t you kind of want that connection with someone you really care about?

On the whole, it was a light read, and the kind of thing that would be great to take out to the pool this summer.  I liked the book, and I do already have the sequel waiting to be read, so I’ll get to that somewhat soon.

Read this book if: You enjoy stories about small towns, or uplifting tales of people who go through everything together.  This town is like Cheers, everyone knows your name and your life.