With a little bit of help, but for whom?

Synopsis

Escape to the beautiful coast in this heartwarming romance

Dare to dream big…

When Nancy opened her dream bookshop overlooking the golden sands and shimmering waters of Driftwood Bay, she may have taken on a little too much. She might know all about books, but doesn’t know the first thing about business! She did however, want to do something meaningful with the inheritance money she got from her beloved Aunty Theresa.

When Dennis, visiting grandson of one of her dearest friends, offers to help, Nancy knows she can’t say no. Dennis is a high-flying businessman, with a fancy London job and a successful banking portfolio to prove it.

Trouble is, he makes the worst first impression. Nothing short of an insufferable know-it-all, Dennis takes every opportunity to remind her how out of her depth she is.

But Nancy knows her strengths, and just as much as she needs Dennis, he needs her too. There’s plenty she can teach him, and the more she shows off her world of Driftwood Bay, where the pace of life is slower and the morning sunrises are the most beautiful thing you can witness, perhaps they could become more than just business partners?

An utterly gorgeous romantic read set by the beautiful Cornish coast, perfect for fans of Phillipa Ashley and Heidi Swain

My review

Nancy loves running her bookshop in Driftwood Bay. But while she loves selling stories to people, it isn’t all that easy, as the downside of having a bookshop, also means running a business. And the financial bits of having a business just goes over Nancy’s head. Nancy worked so hard for her bookshop, and she won’t give up that easily. Even if that means accepting the help of obnoxious and insufferable Dennis. He has all the knowhow, as he is a great businessman working in London, and currently visiting his beloved grandmother. Even if things start of rocky, and Dennis doesn’t hesitate to point out how badly the bookshop is doing, Nancy starts to learn how to run a business. Ideas fly back and forth. And Dennis himself learns that the hectic London – life isn’t all that, and that perhaps the slower pace in Driftwood Bay is what he actually needs. And will sparks fly around between Nancy and Dennis? Or will Dennis return to the life he has known where being successful is what matters?

When I opened this book on my Kindle, I had a big smile on my face. Knowing Kim Nash’s talented writing skills, I knew that I would be loving every bit of this book, and that it would be a marvellous next chapter in the Cornish Cove series.

And from the start, I liked Nancy. Of course it helps that she is a booklover, just like me. And I admired her for realizing her dream of opening a bookshop. In a world that is more and more digital, and where everything can be bought online, it for sure is a risk to open a shop. And not just any kind of shop, but a real, old – fashioned bookshop.

I could understand her love for books (well, duh! 😊) and I could clearly see how passionate she is while helping her customers. If I were in Nancy’s shoes, I would also be working each day with a big smile on my face. And perhaps, just like Nancy, I wouldn’t be any good at looking at the financial side of having an own business. Because seeing a dream finally coming to realization doesn’t mean per se that it will be a walk in the park.

And that is exactly what Nancy is slowly learning, as she has her dream coming true, but she isn’t living the dream at all. Even if she tries to bury her head in the sand, she knows that something has to change, in order to keep her dream alive. Even if that means accepting the help from the most insufferable man she may have met.

Yes, Dennis didn’t make the best of first impressions. He for sure doesn’t sugarcoat his words. But for me, it was more a sign that with him, you know where you stand. And he does know what he is talking about, being a successful businessman in London.

But it was also clear that beside being a successful businessman, he doesn’t truly know a lot about the things that matter in life, things like family, love and care. I am absolutely not saying that Dennis is a superficial man. But his life for sure scarred him, and if it weren’t for the love and support from his grandmother and other important people in his life, I don’t know what kind of man Dennis would be turned out to be.

Nancy and Dennis for sure stand very differently in life, as Nancy has always been surrounded by love and is a loving and caring person herself. While Dennis has always been more focused on becoming successful. But when their paths cross, it’s clear that they both have a lot to learn from each other.

For Nancy it starts with picking Dennis’s mind with ideas to improve the business of the bookshop. But she also understands that wanting to sell to her customers isn’t the intrusive business handling she thought it was.

However, more important is that Nancy learns that closing off your heart for love isn’t a recipe for happiness. Even if I understood that she ahs high standards, in the sense that she sees what a happy relationship looks like with her parents as the perfect example, she also sees how a bad relationship looks like, with her brother’s as an example.

And for Dennis, it’s just learning about love. Because he has missed this essential, vital concept in his life. Even he has loving and supporting people in his life, or had in his life, from the people he wanted to have it the most, were the people that gave him the least…

With spending time with Nancy, Dennis learns that there is so much more in life, and that what he thought what matters in life, isn’t that important at all. In this lovely little village of Driftwood Bay he learns more about the world and about what truly matters.

In this book we see there is a lot of giving and taking. It isn’t that Nancy is subject to Dennis, or Dennis to Nancy. Both characters have an evolution, even with trail and error, and yes even some heartbreak in the process.

But there is also the fact that people are accustomed to the world they know. And when taking a step aside, realization may dawn that while their life isn’t a wrong one, there can be more to it than what may be thought.

This was absolutely a heartwarming, lovely story from an author that knows how to pull your heartstrings with a what may initially seem a light story, yet slowly shows serious depth in it. Kim Nash wrote exactly what I expected, wanted and needed!