The Inn at Rose Harbor by Debbie Macomber
Paperback, 416 pages
Published 16th August 2012 by Arrow Publishing
Description via Goodreads:
The Rose Harbour Inn welcomes you to Cedar Cove…
From the minute she sees the Rose Harbour Inn, Jo Marie Barlow knows that this is the place that will help her find the peace she craves. And if the inn can comfort her, surely it can offer the same refuge to her first two guests.
Joshua Weaver has come home to care for his ailing stepfather. The two have never seen eye to eye, but a long-lost acquaintance proves to him that forgiveness is not out of reach and love can bloom in the unlikeliest places.
Abby Kinkaid left Cedar Cover twenty years ago after a devastating accident. But as she reconnects with family and old friends, she realizes that she needs to let the past go if she is to embrace her future.
From the minute she sees the Rose Harbour Inn, Jo Marie Barlow knows that this is the place that will help her find the peace she craves. And if the inn can comfort her, surely it can offer the same refuge to her first two guests.
Joshua Weaver has come home to care for his ailing stepfather. The two have never seen eye to eye, but a long-lost acquaintance proves to him that forgiveness is not out of reach and love can bloom in the unlikeliest places.
Abby Kinkaid left Cedar Cover twenty years ago after a devastating accident. But as she reconnects with family and old friends, she realizes that she needs to let the past go if she is to embrace her future.
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My thanks go to Arrow for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.
Debbie Macomber is a very popular, well known author and she's even one of my mum's favourites. Due to her popularity, I knew that I had to give her writing a go. Upon a little bit of internet searching, I discovered that she was starting off a new series, so I thought that'd be the perfect place for me to start. I picked up The Inn at Rose Harbour and before long, I'd finished it.
From reading only this one book, I can understand why many people enjoy Debbie Macomber's writing. This was a very pleasant, easy to read book. Though the book was effortless to read, there were still a plentitude of characters and some rather serious issues addressed. It is clear that Cedar Cove is a place that is set firmly in the author's mind - it feels very real and as though everyone living there really does have a history.
The Inn at Rose Harbour is a series set in Macomber's famous Cedar Cove and so it features a lot of characters from her previous Cedar Cove series. I thought that I may have a little problem as I haven't actually read any of her other books, but it wasn't any problem at all. I think that it would have been even better if I had read her other books - I think it'd be great to be able to revisit old, loved characters, but as a new reader of her stories, it was still a nice introduction. I think Macomber had a fantastic idea when she decided to write this new series. I love the idea of a book set in a B&B - it allows so much room for exploration of ideas, for exciting plots and for so many new characters, whilst still having some constants.
The main characters we were introduced to were all very strong and each were interesting in their own way. We were introduced to Jo Marie, the woman who impulsively bought the Inn after her husband died in Afghanistan, Josh Weaver who stays at the Inn whilst he visits his hostile stepfather who is dying and Abby who is still trying to gain forgiveness for the death of her best-friend in a car accident. As you can tell, these are all deep, emotive issues. Though we are following three different stories, it doesn't get confusing at all and all three storylines were well developed. At the start, I felt myself favouring Jo Marie's story but by the end, Josh's story was by far my favourite as I felt it was the most intense, effective part of the book. This is a romance book and the romance was decent, but it wasn't anything that I got excited over. The most interesting romance, for me, seems like it's still to come and will be further explored in the next books as we get to know more about Jo Marie.
I did have a couple of issues with this book and the main one was that it was so predictable. After reading around only 50 pages, it was quite obvious who was going to pair up with who and what was going to happen. There wasn't one point in this book where I was shocked or even slightly surprised. Of course, this isn't always a bad thing. Sometimes knowing where a book is going and waiting for a happy ending is nice. Personally, I prefer some twists and turns but as I've said, this was a lovely, easy read. I will look forward to reading more of Macomber's books in the future.
Despite the predictability, this sounds like a lovely read! I haven't actually heard of this book before, so thank you for introducing me to something new. :) I'm glad you enjoyed it, Steph! Brilliant review. :)
ReplyDeleteI've never read a book from Debbie Macomber before, but she sounds like a great author. I'm glad you enjoyed this book, even though it was a tad predictable. Lovely, persuading review, Steph!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, thanks so much for stopping by my blog earlier.
Jessica :D xxx
www.bookedupbloggers.blogspot.com
I love the idea of a book set in a B&B too :) Thanks for sharing a lovely review!
ReplyDeleteI kind of suspected Macomber's books are sweet and predictable. Sometimes that's just right though.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read anything by Debbie Macomber. Fail. Normally when we follow multiple people within the same story I get frustrated because I want to spend time with the one I've gotten most attached to, but it seems like following three different people works really well in this case which is always a nice surprise:) Fabulous review Stephanie!
ReplyDeleteI'm happy that despite the predictability it turned out to be a nice and lovely read. I haven't read anything from this author, actually this is my first time hearing her (yeah, fail) but I might check them out someday now that I've seen a brilliant review from you. So glad you enjoyed this, Stephanie. :)
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother loves Macomber, and got my mother into them, though she only like certain ones. I have had a couple of her novels pushed on me by both, but haven't opened them yet. They sound like cozy reads. Nice review!
ReplyDeleteBeth ^_^
http://sweetbooksnstuff.blogspot.com/
Really great and open-minded review, Stephanie! I can't believe I'm not familiar with this author, but this sounds like a sweet read. Too bad it was so predictable, but I like the sound of the well-developed story lines, especially since there's 3. Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteI love happy endings! When reading books, sometimes it's really easy to tell that the ending will be a pleasant one, but--as you say-- that's not always a bad thing, it can be really reassuring!
ReplyDeleteI'm feeling slightly embarrassed that I don't recognise the authors name, now. ): Both this book, and Cedar Cove sound like interesting and easy reads, I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
Both Josh and Jo seem to have interesting stories.<3 Thanks for the lovely review, Steph!(:
I haven't read many books by Debbie Macomber, but I did enjoy the one(s) I did read. I love it when authors create a world or town that they revisit in several books, as it becomes so much more real to me then and I love meeting up with old acquaintances again. Perhaps I need to give this series a chance! :)
ReplyDeleteGreat review! In reply to your comment about Reflection, I actually had not heard of the book until I signed up for the blog tour. Thanks for stopping by my TT
ReplyDeleteI've seen this one around lately, but hadn't really paid much attention to it. It sounds like it would be good though!
ReplyDeleteI've been reading Debbie's books for years! This one sounds like a good, light read.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review! I'm sorry this one was a little too predictable though, I'm also a little iffy about it. It can be good but it can also be bad. But I'm glad you enjoyed this one as a whole!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked your first Debbie book! Personally, I've never read anything by her, but I've seen her books around a lot. I love easy to read, effortless books. Sometimes, you're just in the mood for that type of read! However, I'm sorry to hear about the predictability. I also love twists and surprises in my books. Lovely review, Stephanie. I hope your next Debbie book is even better!
ReplyDeleteThis seems like a very sweet read. It's too bad that it's so predictable though. That would annoy me a little too. I've never actually heard of this author but it seems like she writes well. The characters especially seem interesting.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that you liked it even with the small issues you had. :)
Brilliant review, Steph!
I've not read any of her books either but as you say, sometimes we need a book like this as comfort reading. She's a prolific author too, so there's plenty more to enjoy!
ReplyDeleteTotally agree, predictable but sweet and easy. I haven't read the Cedar Cove series but I enjoyed The Blossom Street series so I'll probably read the next one in this series :)
ReplyDeleteI'm pleased you enjoyed this one Stephanie, in spite of some of your minor issues with it. It sounds like quite a lovely read overall! Nicely reviewed. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I noticed you're currently reading The Snow Child- I can't wait to see what you think of it! I hope you enjoy; it is one of my all-time favourite books. :)
Debbie Macomber is someone whose books I still need to pick up! It's been on my to-do list for a while but somehow I never get around to actually doing it.
ReplyDeleteI'm the same as you and I prefer books with twists and turns and don't really like predictability, but I'm glad you enjoyed it in spite of that :)