Friday, December 28, 2012

The Inn at Rose Harbor


Debbie Macomber

When I picked up The Inn at Rose Harbor I was looking forward to reading another book in Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove series. I had been surprised to learn that Macomber had toyed with the idea of ending her popular thirteen-book series based in the fictional town of Cedar Cove on Puget Sound. Instead, the New York Times best-selling author listened to her readers and came up with a compromise: she started a new series involving a bed-and-breakfast set in the town. While the old characters will still drop by, the story will now revolve around the bed-and-breakfast’s owner, Jo Marie Rose, and her guests.

In this first instalment, we learn that recently-widowed Jo Marie is struggling with grief. In need of a fresh start, she quits her job in Seattle and buys a bed-and-breakfast in Cedar Cove. After settling in, she welcomes her first guests, Joshua Weaver and Abby Kincaid. Joshua is hoping to reconcile with his dying stepfather, while Abby needs to let go of the guilt she has carried for over twenty years. Using three points of view in alternating chapters, Macomber skillfully traces their healing journeys.

The book was a quick read and I was disappointed to put it down. But I was reassured by its ending: Debbie Macomber left us with the promise of another wonderful story involving two mysterious guests.

- Joanne Guidoccio

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