Book Review, Second Chances in Bellbird Bay by Maggie Christensen

About the book, Second Chances in Bellbird Bay

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cala Publishing (July 30, 2023)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 258 pages

Second Chances in Bellbird Bay: A captivating story to tug on your heartstrings

Following her divorce, Greta Roberts has found solace running Birds of a Feather, an upmarket boutique in the seaside town of Bellbird Bay. But when a ghost from her past reappears, Greta’s peaceful, single life is sent into a spin.

Leo Carlson has built an empire of hotels and resorts but has never forgotten the perfect summer he spent in Bellbird Bay in his teens. When the opportunity to purchase a hotel there arises, he finds it difficult to pass it up.

Meeting again, Greta and Leo are quick to discover they are different people from the young couple who kissed on the beach and vowed to love each other for ever. Beset with challenges which threaten to keep them apart, can Bellbird Bay work its magic and provide these two with a second chance at love?

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About the author, Maggie Christensen

After a career in education, Maggie Christensen began writing contemporary women’s fiction portraying mature women facing life-changing situations, and historical fiction set in her native Scotland. Her travels inspire her writing, be it her trips to visit family in Scotland, in Oregon, USA or her home on Queensland’s beautiful Sunshine Coast. Maggie writes of mature heroines coming to terms with changes in their lives and the heroes worthy of them. Maggie has been called the queen of mature age fiction and her writing has been described by one reviewer as like a nice warm cup of tea. It is warm, nourishing, comforting and embracing.

From the small town in Scotland where she grew up, Maggie was lured to Australia by the call to ‘Come and teach in the sun’. Once there, she worked as a primary school teacher, university lecturer and in educational management. Now living with her husband of over thirty years on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, she loves walking on the deserted beach in the early mornings and having coffee by the river on weekends. Her days are spent surrounded by books, either reading or writing them – her idea of heaven!

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My Thoughts

Second Chances in Bellbird Bay is actually my first visit to this lovely seaside village, but I felt as welcome as any visitor, and it will not be my last experience with this series.

This story is focused on Greta Roberts, owner of an upscale boutique and Leo Carlson who she knew – and kissed – as a teenager. The divorced shop owner and the returning hotelier have a history with each other, but years change us, and they must get to know each other all over again.I really appreciated that this story was about mature adults finding love. I enjoy stories about twenty- and early thirty-somethings but as someone entering her mid-fifties, I like seeing characters who are closer to my age. Fifty is the new thirty, after all, and many of us, like Greta, are still vital and active.

Author Maggie Christensen has written many other books in this series, but this is the first I’ve read, so I hope the wonderful cast of locals – friends and family – are as integral to the other books as they were in this one. It’s often said that it takes a village to raise a child, but the truth is, it takes a village to be a whole, functioning adult at times. None of us lives in a vacuum, and having the people of Bellbird Bay being involved in Greta and Leo’s lives really made this book feel plausible.

Enough cannot be said about the town of Bellbird Bay, itself. Christensen has made the seaside locale into a character in the story, with vivid descriptions, but also by adept use of the special tone that coastal villages have. Light and life are slightly different when you live by the sea, and Maggie has captured that difference with deftness.

Overall, this is an interesting, enntertaining read with rich development of characters and place.

Goes well with: Italian ice (preferably lemon) served in a paper cone.