// Rosemary Cottage //
Hope Beach Novel, Book #2
By Colleen Coble
{Review By Bethany}
Title: Rosemary Cottage
Author: Colleen Coble
Series: Hope Beach, Book #2
Source: Review book from BookSneeze.com
Author: Colleen Coble
Series: Hope Beach, Book #2
Source: Review book from BookSneeze.com
Number Of Pages: 336
ISBN: 1595547827
Publisher: Thomas Nelson Publishers
Publisher: Thomas Nelson Publishers
Publication Date: July 9th, 2013
My Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
My Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
//Book Description//
Taken From GoodReads.com
"The cottage by the sea offers Amy a refuge to mourn her brother’s death and perhaps even discover a new love. But what if Ben’s death was no accident?
Rosemary Cottage on the Outer Banks of North Carolina has been in Amy Lang’s family for generations and offers her a haven within its peaceful walls. There she hopes to discover what really happened to her brother, Ben, even as she tries to come to grips with his death in the ocean months before.
She hopes the Coast Guard team will help her find closure, but they are quick to dismiss her concerns of foul play. Everyone in Hope Beach regards the suspicious e-mail she received as a vicious prank. When it seems discovering what happened to Ben will take longer than she expected, Amy moves her midwifery practice to Hope Beach.
Coast Guard officer Curtis Ireland may hold the key to many of her questions, but he also hides a secret that will change her world forever. And her own secrets could tear apart the fragile love developing between them. Will Amy have the courage to put down her mask and let Curtis love her for who she is? And can they both weather the danger that threatens to destroy the most precious thing in their lives?"
//Bethany's Review//
Rosemary Cottage by Colleen Coble is a page-turning suspense, delightfully set on the peaceful and relaxing Hope Beach Island, and is sure to grab the attention of all suspense lovers, and make a memorable summer or vacation read.
Amy Lang and Curtis Ireland have something in common: both of them recently lost a sibling. While on the outside both deaths of Amy and Curtis's siblings Gina and Ben seem natural enough, events begin to take place that would suggest otherwise. Amy and Curtis begin to look into the seemingly natural deaths of their siblings, and in the process are confused with the realization that they may not know their siblings as well as they thought, making things more frustrating as they try to figure out the truth. As they progress with information that suggest the deaths were indeed planned, they face hardships in the relationship as they battle to keep Curtis' niece, one-year old Raine safe, they begin to put together the puzzle pieces of their siblings lives one by one and find that they are connected in some way. As time runs out and they are in danger, will they be able to figure out the puzzle before it's too late?
When I finished Rosemary Cottage, my first though was "Wow!". I was so shocked with the ending that I had eagerly awaited so that I could figure out what happened, but was totally surprised by the answer! This is the second book of Colleen's that I've read, the first book being Tidewater Inn which is the first of the Hope Beach novels. While I didn't enjoy Tidewater Inn as much as I did Rosemary Cottage, I am glad I took the time to check it out from the library before reading Rosemary Cottage to ease the part of me that utterly will not read a series out of order, unless absolutely necessary. While this "series" in my opinion are more stand alone novels, the only connection to the novels would be one or two characters from the previous book that don't make up a large part of the following book. However, I'd best recommend that if you have the opportunity to read Tidewater Inn before Rosemary Cottage that it would make Rosemary Cottage a more enjoyable read, since you would get to see a continuation of the main characters, Libby and Alec from Tidewater Inn. But if you are unable to do so, it would certainly in no way take away from your experience in reading Rosemary Cottage first.
One thing I really liked about Rosemary Cottage is how even though it is skirting the murder mystery/suspense genre, (While I didn't realize until beginning the book) it was a super clean one. What I mean by this is, when you think of a murder mystery, you would think it would get dirty and have a bunch of boring scenes with the FBI, and plenty of nasty images of the diseased person. But this is as far from the truth as it gets concerning Rosemary Cottage, and I considered the death aspect of this book to be handled very well by the author in a clean manner. I was quite surprised as how clean it was and enjoyed how the main focus and attention is on Amy and Curtis who take it upon themselves to do some investigating of their own, and contained only a few scenes/mentions to the authorities, FBI, etc.
The only thing I didn't really like about this book was the writing style. I noticed rather quickly that Colleen chooses to spend most of the main attention in sentences on details rather than flowering it up, so to speak. It was the kind of writing style that I would assume makes it harder to imagine a scene, for lack of details. But this is not to say that Colleen didn't give details, just not in a flowery manner. I just think it was in a different way than I'm used to. While it wasn't a major concern and one I got used to after a hundred pages or so, it's just a personal opinion that I noticed, but is in no way a reason to turn down the book as a whole.
Overall I'd recommend this book to lovers of clean suspense that you won't want to put down, with a nice amount of romance in the mix. Since this book is set in the luscious Hope Beach, it would make a lovely pool and beach vacation read, and is sure to grab your attention!
N O T E :: I'd like to sincerely thank Thomas Nelson publishers from BookSneeze.com for providing me with a free copy of Rosemary Cottage to read and review. I was not required to give an honest review if I didn't like the book, and all opinions expressed are my own, honest and unbiased.
Amy Lang and Curtis Ireland have something in common: both of them recently lost a sibling. While on the outside both deaths of Amy and Curtis's siblings Gina and Ben seem natural enough, events begin to take place that would suggest otherwise. Amy and Curtis begin to look into the seemingly natural deaths of their siblings, and in the process are confused with the realization that they may not know their siblings as well as they thought, making things more frustrating as they try to figure out the truth. As they progress with information that suggest the deaths were indeed planned, they face hardships in the relationship as they battle to keep Curtis' niece, one-year old Raine safe, they begin to put together the puzzle pieces of their siblings lives one by one and find that they are connected in some way. As time runs out and they are in danger, will they be able to figure out the puzzle before it's too late?
When I finished Rosemary Cottage, my first though was "Wow!". I was so shocked with the ending that I had eagerly awaited so that I could figure out what happened, but was totally surprised by the answer! This is the second book of Colleen's that I've read, the first book being Tidewater Inn which is the first of the Hope Beach novels. While I didn't enjoy Tidewater Inn as much as I did Rosemary Cottage, I am glad I took the time to check it out from the library before reading Rosemary Cottage to ease the part of me that utterly will not read a series out of order, unless absolutely necessary. While this "series" in my opinion are more stand alone novels, the only connection to the novels would be one or two characters from the previous book that don't make up a large part of the following book. However, I'd best recommend that if you have the opportunity to read Tidewater Inn before Rosemary Cottage that it would make Rosemary Cottage a more enjoyable read, since you would get to see a continuation of the main characters, Libby and Alec from Tidewater Inn. But if you are unable to do so, it would certainly in no way take away from your experience in reading Rosemary Cottage first.
One thing I really liked about Rosemary Cottage is how even though it is skirting the murder mystery/suspense genre, (While I didn't realize until beginning the book) it was a super clean one. What I mean by this is, when you think of a murder mystery, you would think it would get dirty and have a bunch of boring scenes with the FBI, and plenty of nasty images of the diseased person. But this is as far from the truth as it gets concerning Rosemary Cottage, and I considered the death aspect of this book to be handled very well by the author in a clean manner. I was quite surprised as how clean it was and enjoyed how the main focus and attention is on Amy and Curtis who take it upon themselves to do some investigating of their own, and contained only a few scenes/mentions to the authorities, FBI, etc.
The only thing I didn't really like about this book was the writing style. I noticed rather quickly that Colleen chooses to spend most of the main attention in sentences on details rather than flowering it up, so to speak. It was the kind of writing style that I would assume makes it harder to imagine a scene, for lack of details. But this is not to say that Colleen didn't give details, just not in a flowery manner. I just think it was in a different way than I'm used to. While it wasn't a major concern and one I got used to after a hundred pages or so, it's just a personal opinion that I noticed, but is in no way a reason to turn down the book as a whole.
Overall I'd recommend this book to lovers of clean suspense that you won't want to put down, with a nice amount of romance in the mix. Since this book is set in the luscious Hope Beach, it would make a lovely pool and beach vacation read, and is sure to grab your attention!
N O T E :: I'd like to sincerely thank Thomas Nelson publishers from BookSneeze.com for providing me with a free copy of Rosemary Cottage to read and review. I was not required to give an honest review if I didn't like the book, and all opinions expressed are my own, honest and unbiased.
Gearing up to read this book. LOVED the first so reading the sequel has been high on my anticipation for a while now. :)
ReplyDelete