Review: Heartbreak Cove

Heartbreak Cove (Sanctuary Island #3)

by Lily Everett

Blurb:

Welcome to a place where love is in the air, fate is in the stars, and home is just a heartbeat away…

Sheriff Andie Shepard may be new to Sanctuary Island, but, like everyone else who comes here, she’s already fallen under its healing spell. Andie is determined to leave her mistakes behind her and make this scenic haven her home. But she just might have to change her plans—as well as open her heart—when an unexpected visitor shows up on her doorstep…

Caitlin is the ten-year-old niece Andie never knew she had. Silent, wary, and shy as can be, Caitlin only responds to the horses that run wild across the island. Andie has no idea how to deal with Caitlin—until Sam Brennan enters the picture. A tall, handsome loner who rehabilitates abused horses, Sam is able to help Caitlin break out of her shell. But that’s not all: He finds a way to touch something deep in Andie’s heart, opening her up to the healing power of love. Together, these three lost souls must face the darkness in their past to build a brighter future. Because here, on Sanctuary Island, anything is possible…

Themes: contemporary

Rating: 3.5 stars

Heat Rating: 

Review:

I just love the underlying message in these new stories coming out, all about caring for abused and mistreated animals, and how those traits relate to human relationships Sanctuary Island is a place I would love to be able to visit in real life, an island full of rebels and misfits and home to a band of wild horses that each person on the island feels responsible for. The overall sense of community and togetherness is something you just don’t find much in the regular world anymore and it makes me want to pack my bags and head there myself.  Lily Everett, and her alter ego Louisa Edwards, are both favorite authors and I always run out and grab them up as soon as I can.  The stories may not be erotically charged, leaning more toward the sweet and emotional side of relationships, but they are so well written and have such interesting characters and plots that I know I will always enjoy their stories.  I am looking forward to the other characters we will meet on the Island and seeing more of the horses of course, but I will tell you now you will need tissues for this and any novel in the series at least once.  With beautiful stories or strength, forgiveness, and love, Sanctuary Island is a series to remember and embrace with a whole heart. 

Andie and Sam having been dancing around each other for a while, when he returns to the island with a wild and obviously damaged horse, Andie finds herself even more draw to this man who is so gruff with her but so gentle with horses.  She decides that she might be able to work with him on a new volunteer opportunity with the local horse teams, when her life becomes infinitely more complicated with the sudden responsibility of a young niece she never even knew about.  Together with Sam, Andie has to find a way to bring Caitlin into her life and show her that she is loved.  But when danger comes at them from all sides, only trust and love can keep them safe and together, if they can find it in them. 

I loved Andie even if she seemed a bit like a stick in the mud when we first met her, and it is obvious that she has deep layers that cause her to put on that front for the world. The men in her life have damaged her heart and trust almost irreparably, but maybe Sam is just the man to heal her and give her that much needed second chance.  When Caitlin arrives, we begin to see the softer side of the sheriff and I immediately liked her more, even though it is obvious she still has strong beliefs on certain subjects.  I knew going in that her past and present colliding would show us the true measure of the woman she is and I loved how that all turned out.  When she gives her heart she gives it fully and will never let the person she gives it to down.  Sam is on the wrong side of the law, if the right side of ethical behavior.  He believes that sometimes doing the wrong thing for the right reasons is enough to keep him on the side of the angels, but that often puts him on Sheriff Andie's bad side.  But when he comes back and really beings to get to know her, there is no way he can resist the sweet and sensual woman that is wrapping him around her little finger.  Seeing Sam and Andie fall in love was a great way to spend a cold evening and I loved seeing them form their own little family.  All in all the series is shaping up to be a truly heartwarming and enriching group of books about a place that embraces its wildness and will always be home to the misfits in the world and will protect their own to the very end.  The ending was the best part of course, but I won’t spoil it except to say that I went through several tissues in the last 30 pages alone.  Full of love, laughter, sweetness, silliness, and several different relationships making changes, Heartbreak Cove is a story that will nestle into your heart and make a permanent home for itself.  Even small side stories have a happy ending in this story that made me cry harder than the main story.   Hopefully this wasn’t the end of the series because I will need my fix again soon.

*eARC provided by publisher (via netgalley) for the purpose of an honest and unbiased review.  No compensation was provided.