A Christmas full of second chances.

Synopsis

Christmas at the Little Waffle Shack

Heritage Cove is in full swing for the festive season and as the temperature dips, who will be lucky in love this Christmas?

It’s December in Heritage Cove and along with the village Christmas tree, frosty mornings and the promise of the most wonderful time of the year, the new waffle shack is about to open. And its owner isn’t a stranger to the Cove, because after all this time, Daniel is back to make amends with his brother Harvey – as well as a few other locals he might have offended along the way.

Fairly new to the village, local blacksmith Lucy has kept up the pretence of being with her ex for the sake of his gran but she’s fed up with all the lies. Determined to come clean and live the life she wants to live, she’s devastated to find that her attraction to Daniel is tainted by the fact he’s hiding a few things of his own. And his secrets are ones she isn’t sure she’ll ever be able to get past.

Heritage Cove is full of friendship and community; it’s a welcoming place people visit and never want to leave. But will it work its magic for Daniel and Lucy?

A festive read packed with Christmas romance, love and second chances, this is Book 2 in a series of standalone novels set in Heritage Cove, the little village by the sea…

My review

Blacksmith Lucy is determined that this Christmas will be the last one she will pretend still being together with her ex for the sake of his Gran.
She wants to move on with her life, and even if now she is doing a job she truly loves, still having to pretend with her ex, is just not moving on.

Daniel is coming back to Heritage Cove after several years. beside opening a new waffle shack, he also wants to make amends with his brother Harvey, as their relationship can best be described as non – existing. And while he tries to fix this relationship, he is ready to apologize to other locals who have been ‘victim’ of his past actions.

Lucy and Daniel quickly feel the mutual attraction, but will the secrets that Daniel is keeping be a deal breaker? Because some of those secrets are more devastating than others…

First of all, I was so happy returning to Heritage Cove! I loved reading Book No. 1 and was looking forward reading Book No. 2. But it can perfectly be read as a standalone!

From the very start, it’s obvious that Lucy is a very caring woman. The story behind her cat and the fact that she is pretending being still married because of her ex’s Gran, it’s just a fact that she is a kind woman with her heart at the right place.
Now that she is ready to move on, she has to finds a way to bring the news to both her ex and Gran.
But she is also a woman with strong beliefs. She can forgive many things, but there are also several things that are just unforgivable.

Daniel is a troubled man. We get to learn about his childhood and he didn’t have the easy childhood many of us had. And the way he handled this as a young man was so different compared to what his brother Harvey did (and here it’s handy if you read the first book) that it caused a huge rift between the brothers. And this Christmas he wants to bond again with his brother.

My heart was aching for these two, because they have been through so much, and I just wanted them to be happy, and why not, even together!
The attraction was so obvious, but the moment I thought ‘Yes, now it’s finally going to happen!’, something comes up, and takes Lucy and Daniel even further apart.

I found this a lovely story, about new starts, falling in love, but I found this truly a family story. Bonds can be broken, but it takes a lot of courage to take that first step to make amends. And that was something I truly admired in Daniel. He knows he has made mistakes in the past, but now he wants to truly apologize. It’s not something that is easily done, so in my opinion he was great in doing just that.
Lucy shows her greatness in giving forgiveness. There are a lot of misunderstandings and kept secrets. And Lucy, after the initial shocks, is ready to listen to hear the whole story.

This book showed me again what an amazing community resides in heritage Cove and made me want to live there too!
I loved reading about Lucy and Daniel, the way they handled each situation and despite every setback, they still are their amazing self.

My only point of criticism: reading a story with waffles in it, made me as a Belgian extra hungry that I just had to start baking my own batch of waffles. So thank you for all the extra unnecessary calories I had to take in!!! 🤣