SEA GLASS SUMMER by Miranda Liasson

Publisher: Forever
Date Published: June 28, 2022  
ISBN#   ‎ 978-1538736272
Contemporary Romance
Reviewed by Gina (myreviewbooks@aol.com)
Obtained via publisher

3 Hearts

Kit Blakemore met, married and then lost the love her life, Carson, an Air Force pilot who went down during a mission. Carson left not only Kit behind, but a young son, Ollie. He also left behind his best friend, Alex de la Cruz.

Lifelong friends Alex and Carson did everything together including going into the Air Force and going on to flight school. When Carson died, a piece of Alex died with him. Alex has tried to deal with his grief by fixing up an old house Carson inherited that Kit plans to sell. Kit doesn’t want Alex’s help. She wants nothing to do with him for more reasons than his being a memory of her lost love. But Alex isn’t about to take no for an answer. He feels responsible for Carson’s death and will do anything he can to make amends. It doesn’t take long for Alex to find himself wanting and needing to do more for Kit. More than restoring an old house, he steps in to help Carson and Kit’s son, Ollie face his own challenges. Reluctant to accept Alex’s help because she feels it would be disloyal to Carson and his memory, Kit soon finds Alex becoming more and more a part of her life. Can their memories of Carson bring them together or will it continue to keep them apart?

I really enjoyed the first book in Miranda Liasson’s Seashell Harbor series, COMING HOME TO SEASHELL HARBOR. I couldn’t wait to dive into book 2, SEA GLASS SUMMER. It wasn’t quite as good. I often find this happens in either the second or third book in a series—the author starts off with a bang and then loses steam or has a hard time coming up with that second or third story. That happened to me here with SEA GLASS SUMMER. It wasn’t a horrible read. The writing is good. Liasson tells a good story. This one was just repetitive to the point if it wasn’t for review I would have skimmed instead of sitting to read every sentence on every page. After the first twenty times, pretty much on every other page, I got it that Kit mourned Carson’s death. The same can be said for how much Alex missed him. The story would have been about fifty pages shorter without the constant reminders that Carson was dead and they missed him and a much tighter read without it.

I wondered if maybe because this one came out three months earlier if Liasson was on a tight deadline and got rushed getting this one done. Readers are told Alex and Carson were lifelong friends, but until the big reveal about some of Carson’s language, nothing is really said about that friendship—not how they met, not things they did together, not how they made their decision to go into the Air Force together or how they convinced the Air Force to give them the same training and put them in the same squadron. And since Kit knew Carson from their teen years, how did she not know really much about Alex’s friendship with him? Maybe a few pages about Alex and Carson’s history and less about how much the miss him would have made for a better read.

There are some scenes that made me smile. Others that tugged at my heart when Ollie was the focus. Seymour the cat kind of summed up how it is to be a stranger in a new house dealing with new situations.  I’ll continue to read Liasson’s books and am looking forward to Darla and Nick’s story.

 

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.