A new season, a next adventure

Synopsis

Welcome back to the Starfish Café – where you will find stunning views, delicious food and lifelong friendships.

A new season…

As winter turns to spring, Hollie – owner of The Starfish Café – is feeling content as she settles into her new life with her loving boyfriend, Jake, and their adorable dog Pickle.

But when an unwelcome visitor threatens the future of her café, Hollie must stay strong to protect her family’s legacy…

A leap of faith…

Emerging from an unhappy relationship, Tori finds herself with nowhere to stay and nobody to talk to. The long-hidden secrets of her past weigh heavily on her until a chance encounter with Finley, struggling to come to terms with his own secrets, provides an opportunity to open up.

Can she find the strength to stop hiding from her past and face up to her family? Especially when that would mean letting her guard down and learning to trust again…

A fresh start…?

Little do Hollie and Tori know that their lives are about to collide at The Starfish Café and they may be able to help each other with a fresh start. After all, with good friends in your life, nothing is impossible…

My review

Hollie couldn’t be more happier at the moment as she is deeply in love with her boyfriend Jake and enjoys their lives together with their dog Pickles.
And with spring looming around the corner, she is looking forward to see what the future has in store for them.
If only there wasn’t someone wanting to buy The Starfish Café at any cost, even using threats to get his hands on Hollie’s family legacy…
And then there is the bit of Hollie working for the rescue services with Jake to overcome of fear of water and fear of losing Jake…
And it’s while working for the rescue services, that Hollie meets Tori. Tori, who just got out of an unhappy relationship, and has nowhere to stay or nobody to talk to.
What at first seems like an unimportant meeting, these two women become quickly friends, and their lives will get more entwined, especially as Tori also befriends Finley, Hollie’s and Jake’s colleague.
But both Tori and Finley, even if they also feel a bond and become very close friends, are having secrets and they have to come to terms with them.
Hollie, Jake, Tori and Finley surely aren’t expecting the many changes in their lives, but with great friends by your side, nothing is insurmountable. 

I have learned my lesson each time I start reading a story by the amazing Jessica Redland.
So having the first page in front of me, I checked if everything was close by for a reading marathon. 

• Plenty of tissues: check  

• Mountains of comfort food (read as: chocolate): check 

• Comfy blanket: check 

• Removing every kind of distraction: check 

• Cut me off from the outside world: check

And for once, I didn’t need the mountain of tissues while reading this book! Because for anyone who has read my previous reviews, know that at some point I always start crying like a little baby with Jessica Redland. 

Now, don’t go thinking that no teats means no good book, because Jessica (yes I go all familiar with her, because I spilled so many tears over her books that she is in my inner circle now!) did write again an amazing, wonderful, lovely, marvellous, stupendous story! 

First of all, Hollie and Jake are just amazing as a couple. The way they have each other’s back, but also understand each other perfectly, even without saying a word… my melted heart melted even more! And seeing them being together for real, and making plans for their future together, was nothing else but perfection. 

Of course, reading about a lovely couple that are having no issues, would be good. But obviously, there had to be something, or rather someone, throwing spanner in the works… I was left flabbergasted at the lengths people would go to get what they want, having no regards for anyone…
Naturally Hollie would protect what and who matters to her, and I admired her determination to keep her legacy, no matter how big the amount of money was thrown at her. 

And even when things seems impossible to get over, Hollie has Jake by her side, and obviously the whole community to step up and help out everywhere they can. 

While I enjoyed reading more about Hollie and Jake, this book is also about Tori and her struggles.

Obviously, I liked her immediately, despite her dire situation.
While it isn’t clear from the start why she keeps her distance from her family, you know with this author that it isn’t a small issue…

And Tori doesn’t suspect that being rescued by Hollie, is the start of a new adventure, but also the start of coming to terms with her past, that slowly is being revealed.

We see how a young Tori has struggles with her parents and how her trust that got broken once, gave her further trust issues. That made her make some decisions that not everyone understands and even makes her go into relationships that maybe aren’t built to last.
My heart went out to her, because even I would never make that kind of decision, I could comprehend where she was coming from… 

When her turbulent past is revealed, I was a bit shocked, but also realization that not everything was done with bad intentions and that broken things can be fixed with time and love, was the perfect Jessicaism (yes, I just made up a whole new word!)

And meeting Finley, not only makes her find a brand new friend, but also someone that understands her 100% and while things are purely platonic, they are kindred spirits. And even if they are new friends, they feel like they have known each other like forever and  support each other in every decision. 

This story gave me everything I expected (tears excluded). I was glad to see a great couple again, making acquaintances with new friends, and even having a few surprising guest appearances.

While I thought that Jessica couldn’t write an even better sequel, she did it again.
While reading, I couldn’t wipe that happy smile of my face, even the less nice bits couldn’t change my happy feelings.
The only bit that made me truly sad, was realizing that I finished the book and I had to wait longer for a next book!