Can someone open up again after being closed and alone for so long?

Synopsis

Sometimes facing up to the past is the only way to create a better future…

Since the tragic death of his father, Lowen Treneary has kept to himself in his pottery studio on the remote island of Bryher.

His quiet life is just the way he likes it.

Until Pippa comes along.

The local café owner plunges his peaceful existence into chaos and brightens his days while she’s at it.

Soon, he has an employee livening up his workplace with her determination to make his studio more profitable… and a growing attraction to Pippa which he’s trying hard to ignore.

Just as he starts to warm to the idea of letting people into his life again, a crisis hits the island, causing old memories to crash to the surface.

Can the events of the present help to heal wounds from the past? And will Pippa still accept Lowenwhen she learns the secrets he’s been keeping from everyone around him?

My review

Since the death of his father, Lowen Trenear has preferred to isolate him on the island of Bryher. He only visits his family when strictly necessary and even with his brothers the contact is very limited.
He just wants to be left alone while working on his pottery. But when Pippa, the local café owner and seller of his creations, become a greater presence in his life, it’s the start of a complete change in his life.
Because not only does he now have an employee in Mia, Pippa’s niece, with great ideas to make the studio more profitable, but with Mia and thus also Pippa more around, his attraction towards Pippa only increases.
However, while Pippa brightens Lowen’s day more and more, her own future isn’t as bright, as her café is not in great papers and she has to decide where her future lays.
And on top of that, when a crisis arises, Lowen has to face the dark demons that are still haunting him for years…

Reading a story of the Scilly Series feels for me like taking a holiday in a wonderful, warm place.
However, when I started this next chapter in a marvellous series, I wasn’t 100% certain that this story could live up to its predecessors. Because from what I have read previously, Lowen wasn’t very high on my list of people I like. But I knew that I just have faith in the author and that she would be perfectly able to make me change my mind about Lowen!

I thought I knew why Lowen was keeping his distance, but I didn’t know how deep his hurt went and for how long he has been hurting. Getting to know all about Lowen, and especially the reason of his behaviour, broke my heart. And I could finally comprehend, although not agree completely, why he acted the way he did.

While I understood him a lot better now, I also have to admit I had several laughs reading his inability to try to have any kind of control the force of nature that Mia was! He only has Mia working in his studio as a favour to Pippa, but it’s easy to see that Mia’s presence and thus also Pippa’s is exactly what he needs in his life.

And now that I have mentioned Pippa… that is for sure one woman to admire! Her courage to start a business on her own, even in a place that wasn’t her home, but quickly became home. Yes, things aren’t going easy for her, and I would absolutely think twice before tasting one of her cakes, but her determination is admirable. She wants to prove that she make it on be own.

If things would go smoothly between Pippa and Lowen, this book would lose a lot of its charm. Both lovely characters are facing their own problems and demons. And they allow their own fears to hold them back, they allow their fears to not see their full potential. All while we as a reader can see it all so clearly.

The bit that really got me, was the confrontation between the brothers. Their emotions were just so palpable and strong, I could truly feel everything myself. But that difficult confrontation was also something that needed to happen, to heal a familybond that has fallen into pieces.

I found this a wonderful story, about not only two great characters falling in love and trying to figure out which path to follow. But this is, even more than the other books, a story about family. The wonderful kind of family, where even the most broken bits can be fixed into an amazing whole piece again, by the force and importance of forgiveness. And also the kind of family that would do anything for a member in need…

Reading this instalment made me fall in love even more with the place and its inhabitants, and now it’s the excruciating bit waiting for the next part to be released!