Book Review for LOVE IN CATALINA COVE by Brenda Jackson

31/10/2018

In the wake of a devastating teen pregnancy that left her childless and heartbroken, Vashti Alcindor left Catalina Cove, Louisiana, with no plans to return. Now, over a decade later, Vashti reluctantly finds herself back in her hometown after inheriting her aunt’s B and B. Her homecoming gets off to a rocky start when the new sheriff, Sawyer Grisham, pulls her over for speeding, and things go downhill from there.

The B and B, a place she’d always found refuge in when it seemed like the whole world was against her, has fallen into disrepair. When a surprising benefactor encourages Vashti to reopen the B and B, Vashti embraces a fresh start, and soon old hurts begin to fade as she makes new memories with the town—and its handsome sheriff…

But some pasts are too big to escape, and when a bombshell of a secret changes everything she thought was true, Vashti is left reeling. With Sawyer and his teenage daughter determined to see her through the storm, though, she’s learning family isn’t always a matter of blood—sometimes it’s a matter of heart.

An alluring and entertaining start to the new series by one of my favorite storytellers, Brenda Jackson. Ms. Jackson surely knows how twine the words together so that the reader gets lost in the world she has built, with the characters she has created.
Love in Catalina Cove starts a bit slow to me, as the stage is set for the new series. The characters are intriguing, both the main as well as the secondary cast and crew are attractive people, the kinds you want to get to know, and spent time with.
Vashti Alcindor and Sawyer Grisham might seem at the first look like the total opposites with a little in common, but as I got to know them better, that was proved wrong. They are both focused, hard-working, professionals. They are kind and considerate people, they both love kids, and especially Jade, Sawyer's daughter. They are passionate and loving, yet logical and forgiving. I liked the connection between them, the slow burn developing into an inferno, the sizzling flame into something meaningful and lasting. They both had faced loss and heartache in their lives, the tragedies shaping them to be the people they are today.
The betrayals by their loved ones, the surprises in the plot towards the end of the story, are stretching my imagination a bit too far with all the coincidences and twists of faith. I'm still digesting them, not sure what to make of it all.
Regardless, the Catalina Cove with its inhabitants captured my heart. They pulled me into their lives, and I felt like a part of the small southern town while visiting them, getting to know them, and learning about their lives and loves, joys and heartaches.
A compelling and enthralling start to the new series
~ Four Spoons

In 1994, Brenda Jackson’s first novel, Tonight and Forever, was released. Since then she has had more than 100 novels and novellas published (the first African-American author to accomplish such a feat) and has over 3 million books in print.

A native of Jacksonville, Florida, Brenda is the first African-American author to have a book published by Harlequin Desire and the first African-American romance author to make the New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller lists within the series romance genre.

In 2012, Brenda received the Romance Writers of America’s Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award—one of the highest literary awards a romance author can receive. In 2013, she was recognized by the mayor and the city of Jacksonville as being a Trailblazer in the literary field.

In 2010, she collaborated with Five Alive Films to turn her Truly Everlasting title into a feature film. Brenda’s 2011 novel A Silken Thread is scheduled to be filmed with Debbie Allen attached as director in 2015