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Sunday, July 12, 2015

That Chesapeake Summer by Mariah Stewart

Author: Mariah Stewart
Publisher: Pocket Books
Date of publication:June 2015

Jamie Valentine is the wildly successful author of self-help books advocating transparency in every relationship. But when her widowed mother passes away unexpectedly, Jamie discovers her own life has been based on a lie. Angry and deeply betrayed, she sets out to find the truth—which may be in a small town on the Chesapeake Bay. Cutting her most recent book tour short, Jamie books a room at the Inn at Sinclair’s Point, just outside St. Dennis.

The death of Daniel Sinclair’s father forced him to take over the family inn, and his wife’s death left him a single parent of two children, so there’s little room for anything else in his life. His lovely new guest is intriguing, though, and he’s curious about the secret she’s clearly hiding. But in the end, Jamie and Dan could discover the greatest truth of all: that the search for one thing just might lead to the find of a lifetime—if you keep your heart open.


That Chesapeake Summer is the 9th book in this series and only the third that I have read.  The thing that I like about these books is that they really do hold up well as stand alone books.  I have never felt like I was missing any back story when I have picked one up.  St. Dennis is a town that you can feel comfortable dropping in any time to meet up with old friends or make new ones.

I enjoyed this one.  Jamie Valentine is a famous self-help author who, upon her mother's death, find out she was adopted.  Her parents never told her.  She has a few clues and sets out to St. Dennis to find out the identity of her mother.  There she stays at the  Inn at Sinclair’s Point and quickly becomes integrated into town life.  Through Grace's help, she sets out about figuring out who her birth mother might be.  I did like the clever way that Grace helped her figure it out.  I also had to admire Jamie for pursuing it as she did.  I'm not sure I would have had the courage to do it.

The only thing that didn't sit too well with me was the relationship between Jamie and Dan.  I kind of felt like it was really fast. I would have liked to see them interact more than they did in the book.  Don't get me wrong, I was rooting for them, but I wanted more.

If you are looking for a good summer beach read this year, I do recommend this one or why not start at the beginning of the series with Coming Home?


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