The Cottage Next Door
A Beach House Novella
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4.4 • 30 Ratings
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- $2.99
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
In her delightful new novella, Georgia Bockoven brings readers back to the beloved beach house and the charming cottage next door…
What should have been the best day in Diana Wagnor's twenty-nine years easily turns into the worst when her job is downsized, she discovers her fiancé in bed with her best friend, and she watches her cherished grandmother's house burn to the ground.
Clearly it's time to start over and get out of Topeka, Kansas, where she's spent her whole life. But what should she do? And how does she ever trust herself in another relationship when her one indisputable skill seems to be picking the wrong man?
Diana finds her answers at the cottage next door to the beach house with the help of a tall, sculptured, soft-spoken Californian, and a heart-shaped piece of sea glass.
Customer Reviews
the story: full of potential, hope and magical connections transports you
The first I have read in this series, I now need to do some “catch up’ reading to delve back into this world created by Bockoven. While this story mentions many chraacers that I assume are from earlier books in the series, this book truly is all about Diana and Michael, and is delightful from that aspect.
Diana had a series of terrible events where she lost her job, her best friend, her fiancé and her home, and is understandably reeling from the upheaval. A new beginning is really in order, and Diana takes a chance to reach for one. Leaving Kansas, she heads west to California with plans to stay in her cousin’s beach house as she decides what her next step would be.
Diana arrives to start over and nearly instantly bumps into her neighbor, Michael. Of course, she’s sworn off all men since her cheating fiancé, but she can’t stop thinking about him.
Michael didn’t expect to find a connection with the neighbor, and to find out she is his new employee only adds more resolve to his “not looking for commitment’ pledge. But, there’s something about Diana that he cannot ignore. He’s also worried for her safety, as his store was the site of a crime, and even if he doesn’t make one move, he wants her to feel and be safe after all the changes in her life.
The start of this book was a little full of detail and took some concentration, but soon the characters of Diana and Michael and their relationship took over, and the sweetness of this story: full of potential, hope and magical connections transports you to their world. Bockoven uses description and setting to give the readers a fully realized sense of place and character, and both Diana and Michael are easy to relate to and enjoy. Most importantly, they are so well-suited to one another, and their newly developing relationship feels possible and plausible in all the best ways. A lovely novella that has certainly added the earlier titles in the Beach House series to my ever-growing to-be-read pile.
I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via Edelweiss for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.