That Chesapeake Summer

About the book, That Chesapeake Summer

Series: The Chesapeake Diaries
Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Pocket Books (June 23, 2015)

From New York Times bestselling author Mariah Stewart comes the latest book in her celebrated Chesapeake Diaries, a small-town romance series in the tradition of Barbara Freethy, Susan Mallery, and Robyn Carr.

Jamie Valentine is the wildly successful author of self-help books advocating transparency in every relationship. But when her widowed mother passes away unexpectedly, Jamie discovers her own life has been based on a lie. Angry and deeply betrayed, she sets out to find the truth—which may be in a small town on the Chesapeake Bay. Cutting her most recent book tour short, Jamie books a room at the Inn at Sinclair’s Point, just outside St. Dennis.

The death of Daniel Sinclair’s father forced him to take over the family inn, and his wife’s death left him a single parent of two children, so there’s little room for anything else in his life. His lovely new guest is intriguing, though, and he’s curious about the secret she’s clearly hiding. But in the end, Jamie and Dan could discover the greatest truth of all: that the search for one thing just might lead to the find of a lifetime—if you keep your heart open.

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About the author, Mariah Stewart

MARIAH STEWART is the award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of numerous novels and several novellas and short stories. A native of Hightstown, New Jersey, she lives with her husband and two rambunctious rescue dogs amid the rolling hills of Chester County, Pennsylvania, where she savors country life and tends her gardens.

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My Thoughts

My last visit to Mariah Stewart’s fictional bayside town of St. Dennis, MD was in February, 2014, when I reviewed At the River’s Edge which, I think, was book seven or eight in the series. I enjoyed that book (and its predecessors) so much that I couldn’t refuse to be part of a blog tour for the latest installation.

As someone who has always loved staying in boutique inns and bed-and-breakfasts, and who has also fantasized about running one, I really loved that so much of this novel, That Chesapeake Summer centered around an inn.

I really loved how delicately the loss (off-screen) of Jamie’s mother was handled, and how close the rest of her family was. I would have loved to make her a pot of tea and a tray of scones and assure her that writer’s block is only ever temporary and that everything would eventually work out. I also really liked the character of Daniel, and his interaction with his children was very real, and never strayed into saccharine, the way so many scenes with children can.

I’ve spent enough time in the virtual village of St. Dennis that by now I recognize familiar faces and old haunts, and Stewart, as ever, manages to balance old characters and new with poise and grace. The women always feel like distinct people, the men never feel like cookie-cutter romance novel heroes, but have dimension, and the town, of course, is the one we wish we could all live in, if only for a summer.

If I could check into the Inn at Sinclair’s Point for a week or two, I’d leave tomorrow.

Goes well with Eggs Benedict served on Maryland Crab Cakes instead of English Muffins, and freshly brewed coffee.