Millie Hart is a successful romance writer, but her father has never respected her career choices or her work. After a brutal rejection at Christmas where she stood outside his bookshop looking in at him and his friends having a good time while she had her nose pressed up against the window like the little match girl, Millie decides that she will write a ‘serious’ novel, with absolutely no romance. She leaves the city and rents a cottage in Bodega Bay for four months to write seriously.

Drake Branch lives in an Airstream which is parked close to the cottage Millie has rented, he also owns a glass blowing business BP Glass Works with his best friend which is also close to Millie’s cottage. Six years ago he had a serious bike accident in which he lost his left arm. Since the accident he’s rebuilt his life in every way, relearning how to do the most basic tasks, so what if he has a few ‘issues’ that’s his business, if annoying tourists down for the weekend don’t like his loud music that’s just too bad, he can’t bear to hear the noise from the nearby metalworks (reminds him too much of the crash) and the music is the only thing that drowns out the noise.

Millie can’t believe the hot guy can be so rude, the last thing a serious writer needs is to be woken up to Wham at full blast – she needs gloom and despondency not blue skies and upbeat pop music! Try as she might, writing a dark, twisty novel full of trauma and angst just isn’t working for Millie, so she tries distracting herself by getting to know the locals.

Drake might not like Millie but he’s the only one who doesn’t, soon she giving advice to his apprentice on her university entrance essays and giving readings at his aunt’s romance book shop, in a small town everyone knows everyone else and so everywhere he turns he sees Millie or his annoying little sister trying to stir up a romance!

I am a great fan of Tracy Ewens’ novels and this was no exception, she writes engaging characters with real life problems and memorable minor characters. There was angst, but not too much, humour and good plot development. What made this romance stand out was the shout out to so many other great romance writers as Millie and Drake’s aunt compare authors and favourite books – it was fun to see with how many books/authors I was familiar, and to get recommendations for those where I wasn’t.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I pepper my reading with books like this for a boost because they usually have good writing and a happily ever after. I have followed this series for a while, not that I remember all the pairings but it jumps from place to place following the families and friends of the newest pair. The background varies vastly from one story to another and it is always immersive and interesting. 

I like the author's narrative style. The clever(/cheeky) bit about this book was that the main protagonist is Millie Hart who is a romance author herself. Since she is watching her own story unfold, she sometimes thinks about what the critics and book reviewers would say about her reactions to certain predicaments(keeping her in the position of the heroine), which in turn would overlap at least some of the reviews that actual author would get for the book making it a very self-reliant system! If you are familiar with the author or the series, you would know what to expect but love it all the same when it happens. Millie is trying to break away from her typical story and write something different but she has landed in the best place for her summer, a place which screams happily ever after. The other half of her story is Drake the glassblower who has heavy burdens of his own. Every trope in the possible romance of the two is hashed out in actual conversation which was fun to read because once again it serves dual purposes. There are good family members and a few bad ones, and a whole lot of light-hearted as well as heartfelt interactions between them all. The highlight of a chunk of the book is the respect or the lack thereof given to the genre as a whole and the idea that predictable outcomes do not necessarily mean sub-standard writing. This (as always with the backgrounds provided) adds the extra layer to the tale. I think the next story might be about the finishing industry if the hints provided are leading me the right way

Loved this book! Emotional at times, this book deals with some serious issues, but it is a great story.

Millie is in Bodega Bay to write a novel. A departure from her usual type of book, she wants to write something that will finally make her Father notice her.

Drake has a workshop next door to the cottage where Millie is staying. The noise of his music is disrupting her so she confronts him. He will soon realise that she is not just another tourist who he can scare away, and as they spend more time together they both realise they have issues to address if their relationship can go anywhere.