Meet Me at Beachcomber Bay by Jill Mansell – a Review

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Description:
Love is in the air in St Carys, but you’d never know it – the people of this seaside town are very good at keeping secrets…

The man Clemency loves belongs to someone else. She has to hide her true feelings – but when she ropes in an unsuspecting friend to help, wires start to get crossed.

For the first time in Ronan’s life his charm has failed him in winning over the woman he wants. Loving her from afar appears to be his only option.

Belle seems to have the perfect boyfriend, but something isn’t quite right. And now a long-buried secret is slowly rising to the surface.

The truth has a funny way of revealing itself, and when it does St Carys will be a very different place indeed…

Review:

Meet Me at Beachcomber Bay by Jill Mansell is a sweet chic lit romance.  We meet our heroine, Clemency at the start, when she boards a plane and sits next to a man who immediately draws her attention.  Sam, our hero, is distant at first, but our bubbly charming Clemency is hard to ignore for too long.   When they arrive at their destination, Sam quickly disappears and Clemency catches up to him to learn that he is married.

Three years later, they will meet again, as Sam comes to St. Carys, on the arm of Clem’s sister Belle.  Both are shocked to see each other again, and though she learns that Sam’s wife died, Clemency has to keep her distance, since Belle is now engaged to Sam.  We also get to meet Ronan, another hero in this sweet story.  Ronan is a long time friend of Clem and they work together as real estate agents.  Because she is determined not to interfere with Belle’s relationship with Sam, Clem will get Ronan to help pretend that they are a couple.  Clemency was a great heroine, always fun, caring, romantic and loyal to her friends and family. 

Ronan meets Kate during a showing, and they become friends.  In a  short time, he will begin to realize that he is falling for Kate.  This was a another romance that mingled with the main characters, and the fun people of St. Carys.   The only one I wasn’t crazy about was Belle, who came across as snobby, arrogant and bitchy.  Towards the end, this will change somewhat to make her more likable.  I loved the close friendship between Clem and Ronan, which made this story so good, as they were fun,  humorous, with witty banter.    The relationship between Sam and Clem was quieter, since it doesn’t really happen til later in the book. 

This was a very nice romance, with wonderful characters, small town atmosphere, and a few very nice background stories.  The other good characters besides, Clem, Ronan, Sam, Belle, Kate were Josephine, Verity and Marina. The story with Marina was very good, and emotional.  Jill Mansell does a wonderful job writing a fun story line that also touched series subjects, such as cancer, adoption and gay relationship.  I wholly recommend Meet Me at Beachcomber Bay as a book for you to read.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher