Veena’s review of The Chesapeake Bride (Chesapeake Diaries, Book 11) by Mariah Stewart
Contemporary Romance published by Pocket Books 26 Aug 17
Ms. Stewart’s charming slow-paced series on the shores of the Chesapeake continues to play out with new romances, updating us on the existing characters, and introducing new characters coming periodically. Her focus now is on the historical Cannonball Island, which seems to be stuck in a time warp on some of the most picturesque coastline of the region. All architect Cassidy Logan wants to do is put down roots on the island and create one-of-a-kind homes that will provide the right financial incentive for her real estate developer father. Treasure diver Owen Parker has wandered far and away from his roots on the island. Are Cass and Owen like oil and water or are the two of them fated to be together?
Cassidy has fallen in love with this quaint Eastern seaboard, most particularly Cannonball Island. She is determined to preserve the history of the people and homes on the island, while creating summer homes for the rich and entitled. Rumors of a sunken ship in the harbor put a crimp in her plans. Owen takes the opportunity to sign up for the treasure dive and spend time with his aging grandmother and attend his sister’s upcoming wedding.
As Cass spends her time around the island soaking in the stories of the families who once lived there, she is doing her bit to preserve their stories and their land by weeding and clearing and other physically challenging tasks. Owen had once left the island without backward glance. Now he feels compelled to assist Cass in her physical labor of love. Of course, the fact that she’s a sexy, gorgeous woman, easy on the eyes, definitely helps to keep his interest.
Soon Cass is an insider in the secret life of the island residents like dinners at Owen’s grandmother’s friends’ home or meals with Owen’s grandmother as she tells stories about growing up on the island. On the flip side, she enjoys evening tea at the inn and scintillating conversations with the visitors at the inn. I enjoyed so many factoids with relationship to the graves in the yard of the homes, the descriptions of how people lived in the tiny homes, and Cass’ plan on preserving the original architecture while creating modern one-of-a-kind homes for her father’s clientele.
This is a great addition to the series.
Grade: B
Summary:
Architect Cassidy Logan has sworn off good-looking adventurers. Newly divorced, she’s focused on building ecologically friendly, historically accurate homes on the Chesapeake Bay for her father’s construction company. Traveling to Cannonball Island—where there has been no new construction in nearly one hundred years—Cass is sensitive to the heritage of the island, and has come up with plans so perfect she’s determined to buy a home for herself. Even the fact that Owen Parker—a local who she dismisses as a lightweight and a player—seems to be everywhere isn’t enough to deter her from building her dream house.
Owen Parker is and always has been sinfully handsome and wickedly clever, a magnet for mischief as well as girls. He’s a rolling stone, going and doing whatever appeals to him, from flying a mail plane in Alaska, to working on a cattle ranch in Australia, a shrimp boat in Louisiana, and surfing and diving in Costa Rica. When an old friend offers him a job salvaging a sunken ship on the Chesapeake Bay, Owen gladly accepts. Something’s been telling him it was time to head home to Cannonball Island, and a job is as good an excuse as any. And he’s totally smitten by the pretty architect on the scene, but it seems he’s finally met a woman who’s immune to his charms. Sooner or later, Owen will have to face the reason why he always runs, because this time, leaving just might be harder than staying.
No excerpt available.
