High Tide

High Tide is a delightful book. There are no cliff-hanger moments or scenes of high drama. No swooning damsels in distress to keep one turning the page, just quite simply a lovely story with characters that one cares about upon first meeting. One of my favourite kinds of book that I dread finishing as it means I have to say goodbye to my newly made friends within the pages. I am sure that anyone who seeks to write a contemporary romance novel wishes they could create as charming a book as High Tide.

High Tide is set in Penfleet a picturesque English seaside village where the weekenders rub along with the town locals.

Kate returns to her childhood home from her high flying New York life to bury her mother, a much loved local, who had a friend on every corner. Kate has forgotten what it is like to love thy neighbour and chit chat over a cuppa or something stronger. Folks in New York are way too busy and important to waste time caring about each other, or at least the spoiled clients that Kate revolves her life around, as she caters to their every whim, mollycoddling them.

Sam, a widower, is a transplanted Londoner, seeking a slower pace to lick his wounds as he raises his teenage children. Love is the last thing on his mind.

Vanessa is also undergoing bereavement, but her future is decidedly rosy as she ditches the funeral party in favour of a party for two with a distinctly younger man.

High Tide is a lighthearted read with a few twists and turns stuffed inside its sleeve. Pull up a beach chair, hammock or whatever you fancy and take a stroll through Penfleet.