I have a confession to make. Despite the fact that I’ve been reading romance novels for decades and RaeAnne Thayne has written roughly a gazillion novels, I’ve never read her work before Serenity Harbor. Maybe because I’m queen of the Unpopular Opinion crew, I saw all those 4 and 5 star reviews and assumed there was no way I’d enjoy any of her stuff. I dunno. But regardless, if all her work is this good, I’ve clearly been missing out.

I will also admit that I haven’t read many “clean” romances. (Minor spoiler alert: for those looking for a hot and steamy read, you’ll want to skip this one. There’s no sex at all, not even sex of the “closed door” variety.) But that doesn’t mean that the main characters lacked intimacy. Quite the contrary, in fact. I would say that in this case, the fact that the characters took the time to get to know and love each other before sex was even discussed made their connection all the more special.

Bowie and Kat were great characters, but in all honesty, I found that I was much more interested in the story of Milo, Bowie’s autistic brother. His growth throughout the story was heartwarming. You can tell that the subject of autism in children is clearly one that is close to the author’s heart. She wouldn’t be able to write about it in such a raw, emotional way if it wasn’t. (And if Milo ever gets his own story in the future, I’m ALL IN. I’ll one-click the crap out of that one.)

All in all, I would recommend this story to anyone who wants to read about good, hardworking, kind-hearted people who manage to fall in love without falling into bed first, in the midst of all sorts of realistic, relatable family dynamics and low-angst drama.

Full disclosure: we received an ARC in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley.

I love visiting Haven Point. This book has Bowie moving to town with his young autistic brother Milo. Katrina is home for her sister's wedding and is hired short term to care for Milo while Bowie gets his office up and running. She is using the money to pay for the adoption of Gabby, from Columbia. I like the story, it brings attention to children with special needs but the fact that Bowie has lots of money certainly makes his life easier.

This one really had a slow burn and was quite PG, yet it didn't seem like that. As Kat and Bowie were getting to know each other you could tell that there was big time chemistry between them. The few kisses they did allow each other were hot. It seemed like the biggest issue to a relationship between them was themselves and how they viewed their younger selves. Both had issues growing up that really marked the adult they became. Both started to look at things differently when given a hard choice, but both did the right thing for themselves. I was so glad that each of them took a chance at the end, by doing so they got the happy family each has been yearning for.

Serenity Harbor is a great addition to the Haven Point series. Warm characters, great story line. The connection between Milo and Katrina is heartwarming. Bowie was a great leading man with a heart of gold. The love he has for Milo comes through in the story. A must read.

Bowie Callahan has just found out about a younger brother Milo and is now his guardian. Milo is a six year old little boy who is autisitic and has had an extremely unstable upbringing. Bowie doesn't know what to do for Milo when he meets Katrina. Katrina is in town temporarily for a family wedding. She makes an immediate connection with Milo but isn't too impressed with Bowie.

This is a heartwarming book about love and acceptance. This book is very emotional and focuses on some of the challenges of raising a special needs child, it will tug at your heart. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy. I would give this book 4 1/2 stars.

In the continuing Haven Point series, the introduction of Bowie Callahan and his little brother Milo bring a wonderful new dimension to the story. There is an abundance of warmth, caring, and love that emanates from this heartwarming story, you can't help coming away with a smile in your heart.

Bowie and Kat are the perfect pair, their connection through Milo and the depth of their desire to bring him out of his autistic barrier, brings believability to their characters...add in Milo's little boy vulnerability and sweetness and you'll practically hear your heart sigh. Kat's tenacity in adopting and bringing orphaned Gabi home seals the deal in creating a story of unparalleled magic.

Ms Thayne has once again captured human nature at it's finest in her characters and the town of Haven Point. One can only hope the series continues as it would be quite difficult to leave these people and town behind.

I have to say that when I first started reading SERENITY HARBOR I almost felt like I was reading the second book in a series. Was I? Oh dang! It was Book #6! I didn't see where this was a series when I requested it. My mistake. There were a lot of characters and a bit of background had to be introduced for each one. The author managed to acquaint the reader to each one with a minimum of infodump material though. And although I had not read any of the previous books in this series, I actually caught on and was able to enjoy the book.

As for the story, I loved it! Both Bowie, the hunky computer genius, and Kat, the teacher-turned-nanny, had their own insecurities. Together, their compassion toward Milo and Gabi, brought them together in a heartwarming story that brought me to tears on more than one occasion.

Katrina had just returned from living in South America, coming home for the sole purpose of attending her sister's wedding. Although she had no intention of getting involved with another man after the fiasco she had dealt with from Carl, she couldn't help coming to the aid of handsome Bowie as he struggled in the store with his little brother Milo trying to deal with a meltdown. Katrina recognized the signs that this young child had autism and her experience as a teacher helped calm the situation. Bowie was so impressed and grateful, he offered Kat an outragious amount of money if she would become Milo's nanny until the autism specialist he hired could arrive a few weeks later. At first Kat rejected Bowie's offer, but later decided the money would help her reach her goal of adopting little Gabi. Gabi was a little girl with Down's Syndrome living in an orphanage in a small village in South America who had stolen Kat's heart.

I loved how Rayanne Thayne brought out the problems and solutions of dealing with a child with autism and the varying degrees of autism. That little boy melted my heart. And the love that grew between Katrina and Bowie gave me tingles!

There were a lot of characters in this book. The author fully developed the main characters to the point where I really felt like I knew them and loved them (although there were times when I wanted to slap the back of Kat's head to get her to tell Bowie how she really felt). The rest of the characters, however, were way off in the background somewhere, but I believe that was because they were more fully developed in previous books in this series.

I would probably give this four and a half stars, but I'll round it up to five.

A sweet contemporary romance in the Haven Point series.
Samantha Freemont returns to her home town for her sister's wedding after following her ex to another country.
She meets Bowie Callahan, a young man who just received custody of his very young half-brother after his mother's death. Bowie was unaware of Milo and totally unprepared to be a caretaker of a youngster with Autism.
Samantha interrupts one of Milo's meltdowns and aside from the attraction he feels for the pretty schoolteacher, he is impressed with her grasps of his brother's condition. She accepts his offer of temporary employment only to fall hard for the brothers, but she needs to get back to Columbia to achieve the goal that was most important to her, and the reason she accepted the job......Gabi.
Incredible descriptions of the day-to-day normals with a child with mid-spectrum autism and the interactions between the principals.
I highly recommend it.

Touching story- Katrina agrees to help Bowie, who has taken guardianship of his little brother who is on the Autistic Spectrum. Meanwhile, she is trying to adopt a little girl from Colombia who has Down syndrome.

The only thing keeping this from 5 stars is the annoying "false drama" built into the story of Katrina's past. This syorybhad plenty going on without the drama of her insecurities that she couldn't seem to get over.

Excellent book about loving ways to deal with special needs children and the joy they bring to those who love them.

I truly loved this book. I don't read all this author writes but don't miss this one. Loved all the characters and the storylines too. Makes me want to look back at some of the ones I didn't read.