#sunrise cove

[thereadingcafe]

[dk-thrive]

Here comes the Sun. 6:30 to 7:20 am. 23° F. January 18, 2024. Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT. (@dkct25)

[bargainsleuthbooks]

#ARC The Sweetheart List (Sunrise Cove #4) by Jill Shalvis #NetGalley #BookReview #BeachRead #June2023Books

Looking for a #beachread this summer? #TheSweetheartlist checks off all the boxes for me. #JillShalvis writes a great book set in #LakeTahoe that has characters jumping off the page. #Bookreview #newbooks #june2023book #sunrisecove #avonbooks #netgalley

When Harper Shaw’s life falls apart, she knows it’s time for a change. She removes everything that doesn’t spark joy–from her soul-sucking job to eating kale to making lists–and sets off for the last place she was happy, Lake Tahoe (who wouldn’t feel good there, right?) to fulfill her dream of opening her own bakery. With her Sugar Pine Bakery in between a tavern, owned by sexy, grumpy Bodie…

[sandythereadingcafe]

REVIEW

THE BACKUP PLAN (Sunrise Cove 3) by Jill Shalvis at The Reading Cafe:

‘excellent, heartwarming story’

http://www.thereadingcafe.com/the-backup-plan-by-jill-shalvis-a-review/

[bookwyrmshoard]

The Backup Plan, by Jill Shalvis

I have been drifting away from contemporary romances and contemporary fiction lately, but I plowed through The Backup Plan in under 24 hours. The characters grabbed my attention early on, and kept it -- especially Alice. Which surprised me, because Alice is not the sort of heroine I usually relate to.

Shalvis writes "prickly, hard-edged heroine who is really protecting a soft and deeply wounded heart" in a way that reminds me of some of Nora Roberts's heroines. Being a heart-on-my-sleeve type myself, it's not a personality type I identify with or even understand well outside of fiction, but Shalvis completely sold me on Alice. And I was almost as invested in Alice's partners in the inn, Lauren and Knox.

To my mind, The Backup Plan is not technically a romance; it's a novel with a romance subplot. (Two of them, actually; one major and one minor.) The main plot isn't "two people fall in love"; it's "three people, all running from painful pasts, learn to stop running, face their fears and their pain, and (re)build relationships." Although their personalities and lives are different, all three main characters are on the same emotional arc, more or less: facing their past traumas, healing, and finally taking the emotional risks they have been avoiding for years.

Their approaches to this reflect their individual personalities, of course. And it's all complicated by the pieces of the past that they share… in particular, the departed Eleanor, whose influence on their lives was profound, and also the death of Alice's brother Will.

As characters, Alice, Laurence, and Knox are almost equally important in the book. Almost, but not quite. And Alice and Lauren's broken friendship is every bit as important as Alice and Knox's growing relationship. But Alice is at the very heart of the novel. She's the one in the most pain, the one with the most self-destructive coping mechanisms, the one who most needs the other two in order to heal (though she would never admit it.) And so she was also the one I was rooting for the most.

There's a lot I like about this novel. I love the interactions between the characters, both the snarky interchanges (and the growing list of rules!) and the occasional deeper, more heartfelt conversations. I appreciate how each character grows throughout the novel, and how they become more supportive and understanding of one another. I also really enjoy how well Shalvis establishes a sense of place. The old inn and the Tahoe mountains felt real, to the point that I could almost smell the pines and feel the crisp mountain air. In a similar way, she uses small details to ground the reader in each scene and make the characters and their interactions come alive. But it's the characters and their growth and interactions that kept me turning the pages.

I'm still not ready to load up my TBR with lots of contemporary fiction again; the siren song of other genres is too strong right now. But I'm glad I took a chance on The Backup Plan!

[noordinarysunset]

Sunrise at Linn Cove Blue Ridge Parkway Linville, North Carolina

[cdx1016]

Egret enjoying breakfast. Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT August 24, 2024

Https://www.instagram.com/carad1016/

[melodyartiez]

SUN CATS!!!

[shelovesplants]

Halona cove sunrise and afternoon sun 🌞🌊🏝✨️🩷🙌

[gbiechele]

Late Summer Morning Maine Asahi Auto-Takumar 55mm f/1.8 Sony A7

[the-faketiccit0by]

Sun: I’ve been dropping them the most insanely obvious hints for like a year now. No response

Foxy: Wow. They sound stupid

Sun: But they’re not. They’re an average amout of smart actually. Just dense

Foxy: Maybe you need to be more obvious? Like, I don’t know… “Hey! I love you!”

Sun: I guess you’re right. Hey Foxy, I love you

Foxy: See! Just say that!

Sun: HOLY FUCKING SHIT...

Foxy: If that flies over their head then, sorry Sun, but they're too dumb for you

Sun: FOXY...

[thereadingcafe]

[dk-thrive]

Cloud. 7:01, 7:08 & 7:13 am. 22° F, feels like it's damn colder. December 3, 2024. Cove Island Park. Stamford, CT. (@dkct25)

[notokbutthriving]

The kidscove shippers are in shambles

[istandonsnowpiles]

Good Morning, Winter Tree

[digital-media-enthusiast]