On paper, Merina Wilde has it all: a successful career writing the kind of romantic novels that make even the hardest hearts swoon, a perfect carousel of book launches and parties to keep her social life buzzing, and a childhood sweetheart who thinks she’s a goddess. But Merry has a secret: the magic has stopped flowing from her fingers. Try as she might, she can’t summon up the sparkle that makes her stories shine. And as her deadline whooshes by, her personal life falls apart too. Alex tells her he wants something other than the future she’d always imagined for them and Merry finds herself single for the first time since – well, ever.
Desperate to get her life back on track, Merry leaves London and escapes to the windswept Orkney Islands, locking herself away in a secluded clifftop cottage to try to heal her heart and rediscover her passion for writing. But can the beauty of the islands and the kindness of strangers help Merry to fool herself into believing in love again, if only long enough to finish her book? Or is it time for her to give up the career she’s always adored and find something new to set her soul alight?
I'd like to thank Anne from Random Things Tours for inviting me to be a part of this blog tour and Simon & Schuster for my ecopy of Coming Home to Brightwater Bay to review.
What do you do when you're on a tight deadline and struggling with writer's block as well as dealing with the fact that your fifteen year relationship has come to an unexpected end? Well run away from it all and take up a writer-in-residence position in the wilds of Orkney, of course. For our heroine Merina, Merry, Wilde that's exactly what she decides to do but whether this is a case of act in haste, repent at leisure, only time will tell.
It seems a lifetime ago since I first heard Holly Hepburn talking about Coming Home to Brightwater Bay last March which was also the last time I was at a book event in person. How I miss those days of being with fellow book lovers discussing the magic of books and the power they have to take us away from the stresses of everyday life. Previously published as a four-part serial, I am glad that I waited to read Coming Home to Brightwater Bay as a whole as it was the perfect escapism I needed as for a couple of days I was swept away as I followed Merry on her journey of self-discovery to the Orkney Islands. It's hard to believe that all the research for this book was done purely through the power of Google, and that the author had not visited the islands at all, as her descriptions of the sights and sounds flew off the page and it really felt like I was experiencing them myself along with Merry.
No sooner had Merry landed on the safety of dry land then she soon realised that she was like a duck out of water, gone were the days of living a quiet existence in the bustle of city where you could keep yourself to yourself if you wanted to. Instead she was welcomed into the midst of a community where nothing remains a secret, as she would soon discover, but also made to feel like she was part of the furniture, in a good way.
As for the many interesting and colourful islanders she would meet, there were so many I could mention from energetic, but don't call her elderly, neighbour Sheila who is determined to take her under her wing and out running with her, to her unexpected encounters with Gordon the Goat who it seems has a penchant for expensive underwear! Local bakery owner Helen who through a chance encounter recounts her parents own love story which inspires Merry in an unexpected way. And then there's the handful of available single men who could be potentials for her own leading man, either on paper or in person; Niall, 'the Clarke Kent lookalike' library manager, Magnus, 'the Viking' boatbuilder, who came to her rescue in her hour of need, as well as Andrew, the local distillery worker, who may be responsible for a hangover or two during her stay.
Coming Home to Brightwater Bay was like a warm hug in a book. A feel-good read, full of heart, a real sense of community, picturesque landscapes and charming characters. It really was the perfect antidote to forget about the horrors going on in the world and brush away any January blues that may be lingering!
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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