Reviewed by Emma Crowley
When Bea Fernsby discovers her fiancé’s eyes have been wandering, she calls off the wedding and hits the road. The village of Heartcross in the Scottish Highlands is about as far away from home as she can get, and when she stumbles into the ideal summer job at The Little Blue Boathouse and meets gorgeous vacationer Nolan Hemingway, things finally start looking up.
Now, as an old mystery surfaces and Bea and Nolan band together to find out what happened to his late grandfather’s one true love, fate throws Bea some unexpected curveballs…and promising opportunities.
Bea’s stay is only supposed to last a couple of weeks, but as the old saying goes: ‘Once you arrive in Heartcross, you never want to leave…’
Many thanks to Harper Collins UK via NetGalley for my copy of A Summer Surprise at the Little Blue Boathouse to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
Christie Barlow can do no wrong in my eyes as the brilliant Love Heart Lane series continues to go from strength to strength getting better with each new story. Well, the only thing that could go wrong is that she brings the series to a conclusion. It’s a day I’m dreading but fingers crossed that won’t be for sometime yet as she would leave legions of readers bitterly disappointed. As the saying goes ‘once you arrive in Heartcross, you never want to leave‘ and that’s exactly how I feel about this series. I just wish Christie would write faster as I’m always gutted when I reach the end of another fantastic book and have to wait several months for the next instalment. As with all the books in this series, A Summer Surprise at the Little Blue Boathouse can easily be read as a standalone as there are reminders of past events. But trust me if this is your first visit to Heartcross once you reach the end you’ll want to go back and start at book one to discover all the fabulous tales that have emerged from the little village in the Scottish Highlands.
Bea Fernsby is not known for taking chances but now she is taking the greatest risk of all and going to a place she had until recently never heard of, the village of Heartcross in the Scottish Highlands. Her life is in turmoil as Carl, the man she had loved and trusted since she was 15, has let her down. All her memories are shattered, her engagement is over and her future is very scary. She wants to be anywhere that doesn’t reminder her of the cheater who let her down so badly.
I loved Bea from the outset. She knew her worth and what she deserved. All she had ever wanted was to settle down with the man of her dreams and have a family and lived the happily ever after life. But that vision has come crashing down around her and now she must somehow pick up the pieces and carry on. ’I want to make a difference in life and all I’ve been doing is standing still. It’s time to change’. I loved that Bea had this attitude and she carried it with her throughout the story.
Bea arrives in Heartcross to stay at Julia’s BnB (I was glad to see her feature again as it had been some time seen she had made a more significant appearance since the book that focused on her) and soon she is making friends and starting to settle in for her two week stay. Julia is dating Flynn, the owner of the Lake House and the Little Blue Boathouse. As Wilbur is retiring from the boathouse, Flynn needs to find someone new to run it and this is where Bea steps in and offers to work there for a short time. For years she had felt that Carl had squashed her stretching her wings or any ambition she may have had and taking this job is Bea stepping outside of her comfort zone and providing her with the distraction she so badly needed. ‘Sunshine and water were just what she needed to blow away the cobwebs and mend her broken heart’. I loved the descriptions of the boathouse and the nearby lake and all the water sports and activities that took place there. It was a hub of activity and allowed Bea to meet new people and keep her occupied. The Boathouse became a sanctuary for Bea but it also provided her with a very special friendship in the form of Nolan.
Nolan lives aboard the houseboat once owned by his grandfather. He is retracing his grandfathers voyages having renovated the boat and from the moment Bea sets eyes on him she finds him to be drop dead gorgeous with a twinkle in his eye and an air of confidence. Nolan was a charmer in some ways and enigmatic in others. As a reader you couldn’t fail but be drawn to him. He loves taking chances and living a carefree life on the water and painting when he can in order to sell said paintings and raise some cash. He really did have the best attitude in that he believed life is for living and taking chances and that you need to be brave and fearless. I think as Bea got to know him and spend some time with him this positive attitude rubbed off on her and it allowed her to be braver and just go for things and really start to put the recent past behind her. Nolan and the village really did work their magic on her.
Nolan, despite his outside bravado, does hide things and the years have been difficult for him too. He is lonely as he has no family to help him navigate life. Despite outward appearances he is struggling to come to terms with the past and he feels he doesn’t deserve love. You did wonder what has happened in his past to make him feel this way? As he tries to solve the mystery of his grandfather and a young woman named Patsy. A mystery which has its roots Nolan believes in Heartcross. Bea too becomes drawn into the mystery and even more involved in Nolan’s life.
I did initially think god they had only just met and by the end of day one they were really close. Is this all just a bit too unrealistic? Then I figured if there is a connection there you have to go with it and see where the wind takes you. Maybe Bea had unbeknownst to herself been ready to be rid of Carl for a long time and was ready to be free and explore things with Nolan. That’s not say things for them were all smooth sailing or that Bea was going to really rush headfirst into something very serious.After all she had just emerged from something traumatic and life changing.
Bea really does pull herself around very quickly once she arrives in Heartcross and she becomes a honorary villager for the summer. I loved how she was trying to work out the mystery of Patsy and Nolan’s grandfather. I had my suspicions about this and I was proven right. Not that it detracted from my enjoyment of the story at all. Bea really gets stuck into village life and I loved reading all about the preparations for the River Festival and her day to day experiences at the Boathouse and of course we had some drama added in towards the end which brought some danger and tension to the story. I really loved everything about the book and could find no fault with it all. Not that I was really looking for one. Bea’s story is a worthy addition to the series and I was rooting for her all the way.
Christie Barlow has created a series that I just fall more and more in love with as each new book is published. It’s sounds ridiculous to rave so much about a fictional setting and its characters but that’s how I feel. She weaves wonderful feel good tales of a consistently high standard with a unique writing flair that pulls you in from the first word and A Summer Surprise at the Little Blue Boathouse is no different. It was a gorgeous read that I read in as few sittings as possible with such warm loveable characters who always have some troubles or obstacles in their way but the community of Heartcross and its special residents always make newcomers feel welcome and aid people in their time of need no matter how big or small their issue may be. It’s a really fabulous series, one always infused with warmth, kindness, humour and human understanding where the characters walk off the page to meet you and by the end they feel like firm friends. A Winter Wedding at Starcross Manor, the next book in the series will be published in September and I am already itching to get my hands on it. In the meantime do yourself a favour and don’t miss out on Bea’s heart-warming story.
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