Title: Moonlight Cove
Author: Sherryl Woods
Series: Chesapeake Shores #6
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Contemporary romance
Dates read: 18th – 21st July 2021
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: Mira
Year: 2011
5th sentence, 74th page: There’s nothing to indicate that you’re about to be fired.

Welcome to Chesapeake Shores, where New York Times bestselling author Sherryl Woods weaves a world with compelling characters and heartfelt emotion

Jess O’Brien has overcome a lot – the challenges of attention deficit disorder, the near bankruptcy of her beloved Inn at Eagle Point and her self-perception as a screwup in a family of overachievers. Now she’s ready to share the future with a man. Her friends persuade her to join a dating service – but she gets no takers! Which is fine with her childhood friend, psychologist Will Lincoln, who’s already chosen the perfect man for Jess: himself.

Will has loved Jess practically forever. He knows her faults and her strengths. But for all Will’s sincerity and charm, Jess fears he views her as some psychological case study. With her family and the town of Chesapeake Shores behind him, Will finally makes his case. But is it enough to convince Jess to take the risk of a lifetime?

Jess is most definitely the most damaged and vulnerable of the O’Brien siblings. This just made her story all that much more heart wrenching and sweet. I mean, she has a whole lot more abandonment issues than her other siblings, and she also has some huge insecurities. It doesn’t help that the whole town seems to kind of reinforce these ideas.

I loved that Will is able to look at Jess’ insecurities from the beginning and just… support her. He sees all of her flaws and loves her in spite of them. To me, this is what true love entails – knowing someone’s flaws and loving them in spite of it. It does make this a bit of a one-sided relationship for much of the story. Bu a lot of relationships do start like this. I also love that Will’s support makes Jess finally choose to let go of her crap and take the plunge into trust.

This book may have the best proposal scene in it of the many romances I’ve been reading thus far. It wasn’t necessarily all flowery words and epic sentiments, but it most definitely did have that feeling of love and thought. The idea of snow, bonfires, candles and the beach is just… way too picturesque for me to even deal with. I would love to spend an evening with light snowfall and a bonfire on the beach. Although, I do tend to struggle in the cold… so that may not work perfectly.

I thought that Moonlight Cove was the perfect way to round out the first of the O’Brien batches. It also had a great romance with Uncle Thomas, brining him back into the fold. This novel also helped to really introduce Mack and Susie, the next O’Brien (albeit from a different branch) to take centre stage. I’m both excited and terrified to read Beach Lane, because it mentions a bit of bad news (which I automatically associate with cancer). But I also can’t wait to meet the next batch of insane O’Briens to steal my heart away.

<- Driftwood Cottage

Beach Lane ->

Image source: Goodreads