When an inheritance brings you to Pepper Bay

Synopsis

Welcome to Pepper Bay, where you’ll find love, drama, and a happily ever after.

Snuggle down with this cosy, feel-good, comfort read that whisks you away to a beautiful bay on the Isle of Wight – Perfect for fans of Christie Barlow, Alison Sherlock, Rachael Lucas, and Holly Martin.

The Pepper Bay books are standalone stories, best read in order, that intertwine with recurring characters.

Pepper Lane Sweet Shoppe: Erin Mason didn’t know she had any family left, so when she inherits a sweet shop, she’s not entirely sure what to do. There isn’t much else going on in her life, so she goes to check it out in Pepper Bay. After all, a short trip to the Isle of Wight is hardly going to change her life.

My review

Erin has always missed having a real family. It has always been her and her mother, and now that her mother is gone, Erin feels more alone than ever. That is until she learns that her grandfather left her a sweet shop in Pepper Bay. A grandfather she didn’t know she had, and it breaks her heart to have lost another member of her family. After losing her job too, why shouldn’t she head over to the Isle of Wright to see this shop of her mysterious grandfather? What Erin didn’t expect though, was to get seasick on the ferry on her way to Pepper Bay. Luckily a stranger takes pity on her and takes care of her. A stranger that isn’t having the best time of his own life either, as Tyler just discovered the affair his girlfriend was having with his own best friend, on the wedding day of the latter. However, even some vomit cannot stop Erin and Tyler to feel a connection between them. But with both having their hearts broken, can Pepper Bay work its magic once again?

Aaaah Pepper Bay, a place that I just want to visit myself. No, that is not the truth, because Pepper Bay is a place where I want to live myself, with its quaint homes, amazing families and how love is found so easily even if the road to love isn’t that easy.

Even without knowing all the details of Erin’s life, my heart broke for her as it’s clear that she is very lonely and feels like she has no one in the world. The only family she had was her mother, and now she is just on her own… And with losing her job, she just doesn’t know what to do with her life.

I could understand the shock and the pain Erin felt when she learned about her grandfather and how he left her his shop in Pepper Bay. Because this means that Erin wasn’t without a family, and that she could have had a relationship with her grandfather, weren’t it for a feud he and her mother had.

It seemed in a way, that Erin’s illness on the ferry was the expression of how Erin feels. And perhaps it even was like a forecast that Tyler comes at her rescue?

If the story weren’t be taking place in Pepper Bay, I would be very wary of Tyler’s kindness. Well, not only Tyler’s, but just everyone’s. Not only because Erin is spending her first night with Tyler in one room (not like that! 😊) but I wouldn’t be thinking of spending the night with a complete stranger, no matter how sick I would be feeling. But if I would be doing that, there is only one place where I would be feeling safe anyway, and that is Pepper Bay.

Obviously Erin meets Tyler when he is in turmoil himself. And I have to admit, I was furious in his place, as he has been betrayed by two people that he trusted the most. And the fact that there were no repercussions for them, on the contrary, made my blood just boil!

Yet I jut loved Tyler. Of course he needs to digest the betrayal, yet he never loses his kindness, his gentle character, or to make it easy, the uniqueness that makes Tyler such a lovely character! Perhaps he was a bit too pushy towards Erin, wanting her to keep the sweet shop, but he does it with the right intentions, and not for a personal benefit.

I knew that Erin would be finding what she is looking for in Pepper Bay, not in the way she thought she would. Her wanting to have a family, to belong to a family makes so much sense, because in the end, that is what we all want, no matter what that family looks like.

Maybe, just maybe, Tyler’s family looks too perfect, but as a fan of the series, I know what his family went through before. And they worked very hard to get their own happinesses, and they aren’t afraid to share their happiness with others, or welcome others into their family. And that is truly heart – warming to read, how Erin is easily accepted into their family, into the Pepper Bay community.

Seeing Erin and Tyler growing closer was so sweet, two broken people finding each other, having fun together, but also understanding each other, feeling a strong connection despite just having met.

In this marvellous new chapter in a series, we see that sometimes in the most unexpected ways we can find what we were looking for. But we also see that, just look at Erin, it’s not always to understand what our heart is telling us. Or what direction our heart is pulling us.

K.T. Dady wrote again a great story, about lost souls, the unexpectedness of love, the warmth of a community (always great to catch up with old friends!) and best of it all, the importance of finding family, a place of belonging. This all is captured greatly in this heart – warming story, added with a sparkle of Christmas!