OK bit predictable sadly The best part about this was the way in which the islands of Orkney were really brought to life the people, places and especially the history.
The rest of it kind of annoyed me My main issue was the real love interest, a hot librarian, with no real role but to be a handsome tour guide until the last twenty pages, then despite no romance they declare their love for each other on the last page like are you sure Niall does actually say “I know this is happening too fast I love you.
” Yes thank you for some self awareness but you have literally just had your first kiss! The other male lead, who Merry actually dated, kissed and spent time with was given a convenient reason to exit the plot, by which point Merry was eyeing up the next available suitor, having jealous fits and destroying her longest friendship over.
Merry had been a pleasant MC up until this point, her journey to regaining her confidence and sense of self post breakup was well written until dramatic
changes of heart and tantrums ruined her character.
Merry is a successful writer but is suffering from a lack of inspiration to start writing again, She should look no further than the beautiful Orkney Island and the way she seems to have with men, Split into four parts the second is shortest but brilliant with the whiskey dillestry and the forth my favourite finishing off nicely,
Merry has three men interested in the same way but very different too,
Alex the first love the childhood sweetheart dumps her after fifteen nearly sixteen years, The woman at the table was right it may not have felt like it at the time but it was the best thing to happen, He does turn up again but proves once again if you cannot support someone at one's worst you do not deserve their best,
Magnus is the love that maybe would happen in another lifetime, If life had gone a different way, If life had not hit Magnus with his mum, It was a little too late when he came back, They do did have so much fun together though,
Last but not least Niall I would say the slight underdog the one who kept me guessing how he felt, He may be professional but still cares and loves deeply proving that so very much in the last part,
Special mention to Jess and Clare who supported the leading cast so well, I would hope Jess joined the island,
Perfect fast read with relatable characters, The less said about Alex the better, He does not join my list of book boyfriends named Alex,
I absolutely adored books by Holly Hepburn and when I heard Holly talk about her newest book last year before the Lockdown, I knew I must get my mitts on Coming Home to Brightwater Bay.
The setting of the breathtakingly beautiful Orkney Islands combined with wonderful characters and an intriguing storyline made this book one of my favourite reads so far,
I highly recommend to grab a copy next time you book shop, This was originally published asseparate stories, which have been published as one book, The editing is seamless, so you cant tell it was separate stories but it feels quite long,
Very light and fluffy, pleasant, though I cant say I enjoyed it as much as other reviewers appear to have done,
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my review, Merry is a bestselling author and everything runs smoothly in her life, Until it isnt. Shes been experiencing writers block for some time and now her boyfriend ofyears has just dumped her, In a restaurant. So that she doesnt make a scene, Not really knowing what to do, Merry jumps on a place and flies to Orkney, to spend there the nextmonths as a so called Writer in Residence.
Shes hoping to get her inspiration back to be able to write again, What shes not expecting is to become a kind od Orkney celebrity, nor that perhaps shes going to find much more there
Merry was a lovely character and I immediately warmed to her.
It was so interesting and gripping to see how she struggles with her writers block something absolutely new and something I cant relate to but something that Ive heard about and it was great to get such an insider peep, to see the world through her eyes as the places and encounters on Orkney started to spark her creativity.
I liked that she was so open, friendly and down to earth,
Merrys love life was as colourful as a rainbow and I think even Merry herself hasnt expected it to turn out like this, However, mmmm, I think I would have chosen differently I had a feeling there is much better connection with the other candidate, that they simply work together better.
The lovely story is shadowed yes, I use this word consciously by the descriptions of the setting, I dont mean it in a wrong way, because oh my word, Orkney is a wonderful place and the author has done such a brilliant, lovely job with vividly describing it, so seamlessly transporting me to this place, beginning with the tricky journey on a plane and ending with the lighthouse I truly appreciated it.
But I also think that the plot has lost because of it, The story of Merry was great and I enjoyed it so much but I wished for more focus on it,
The problem with books that are published as four parts series before is that they feel repetitive and slow, I want my plot to go on, to continue, events happening and the rerunning of scenes, introducing to the characters again, simply slows it down, It must be done like this, of course, series need this but it irritated me too much, I am not criticizing the author ort he book here, of course not, I am only honestly writing about my feelings while reading the story, and it hugely affected my reception.
Coming Home to Brightwater Bay“ is a perfect escapism, a lovely and gentle story about second chances with a right amount of romance, fun, misfortune, friendship and half marathons.
Gordon the goat is absolutely hilarious!
Copy provided by the publisher in return for an honest review, What a lovely gentle and charming book this was,
Originally published innovellas, I have read the complete combined version but could easily see how each novella would have worked well by itself, Each part focuses around a particular event from Merry'smonth writer in residence programme in Orkney,
Merina needed a change of everything after Alex suddenly breaks up with her, and she is deep within the grips of writers block, and she hopes applying for and taking onmonths in Orkney will inspire her to write again.
I loved seeing the Orkney Islands through Merina and Niall's eyes, their enthusiasm for the area really shines through, and I really got a feel for them and their history.
Oooh and there is a sexy viking too, and even a trip to a distillery! I loved seeing how Merina's confidence grew as the months went past.
Her inability to say no to Sheila has her starting to run, and for longer distances than she would have ever imagined, Then there is Gordon who is a surprise neighbour and utterly adorable and hilarious!
There is just such warmth in these pages of the characters for each other.
There is a real community on the island and the sunsets sounded gorgeous, Merina even had a chance to see a natural phenomena which lead to me being very jealous of her!
It's such a lovely story, it I couldn't help smiling throughout reading it.
Plenty of varying storylines, and each part does indeed work on its own, although I'd recommend reading the whole book in one go, as its far more enjoyable that way!
Thank you to Random Things Tours for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
After Merry has a few problems, she takes a job as a resident author in the Orkney Islands, The locals are very keen to meet her and turn up to the bookish events, There is a real sense of community and you also saw the beauty of the islands, and make you keen to visit, She finds the locals fascinating and chatting to them helps her writing block,
It was so well written that you wanted to live there and go to the book events and just be a part of the community, The perfect book to settle down and lose yourself for a few hours, with your cuppa and a pack of biscuits and your bucket list ready to update, with a new 'must visit'.
This was my firtst book by Holly Hepburn and I absolutely loved it, I found myself swept away immediately and couldn't help falling in love with the people and island, Can't wsit to read another of her books! The best thing about reading is that even when we are in lockdown we can discover so many new places we never even knew existed and that is exactly what happened when I got swept away in Holly Hepburns new release Coming Home to Brightwater Bay.
What makes this book even better is that our main character Merry is an author and Merry is struggling with writers block along with a breakdown of her relationship.
An opportunity to escape everything and to attempt to find her love of writing and some inspiration arises with a Writer in Residence retreat to the Orkney Islands, but will the words flow and will she find more than she hoped in Brightwater Bay
As much as I love reading I am also interested in the author journey, how they find inspiration for their novels, the research they take to make their stories come to life and the pressures of deadlines and writers block that the majority of authors face at some point and so this book was an absolute dream to read because we follow Merry through each of these points and I found it really insightful.
I was blown away by the animals and places the author introduces us to in this novel and I was completely shocked that I had never even heard of Skara Brae, I instantly found myself Googling the place just to check that it was real and it is now somewhere I am desperate to explore myself after lockdown.
The way Holly Hepburn describes each place she visits made them so alluring, they were easy to visualise,
There is a love triangle at one point a square! that added to this already wonderful storyline and I never quite knew if Merrys heart was going to be stolen by the steamy Magnus or the dependable sexy librarian Niall or if indeed romance would truly blossom at all and the suspense of this only added to my enjoyment of the storyline.
There is a wonderful community spirit bringing so many friendly characters together and they all helped Merry in one way or another during her stay, Although the book was released in four parts I am pleased I waited to read the whole book as one as I dont think I could have waited for each part to be released! This was originally published inparts and now made intofull book which I loved.
We meet Merry a best selling author, who has writer's block, after a break up Merry decides to take the position of Artist in Residence on the Orkney Island formonths and leaves Chiswick behind and needs the change to get back her mojo.
While in Orkney she meets two very different men and gets the inspiration she needs, will Merry ever want to go back to London
A funny read, beautiful settings.
Orkney sounds just stunning.
I really enjoyed reading this one and really felt as if I was there, My word this book was amazingly well written I couldnt put it down the characters were brilliant and the setting makes you feel you are there and want to go yourself.
Full of starting over again and finding the right person to have romance and refunding yourself so you can write again, Its a warm charming read and will not want the book to end,
Marina has it all she has a boyfriend and due to get married and a brilliant author but shes struggling to write her next book and cant find the words then when her boyfriend finishes with her how will it effect her.
She sees an advert for a writer to move to the Orkney islands to encourage others to read and she gets the job so moves up, She starts her new adventure and gets to know knew friends and knew talents like running and she finds her writing again and finds herself happy, Will she find the romance shes after or will she stay single and will she move back to London or stay where she is, .
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Holly Hepburn