*****
Lisa Hodges, who has four grown children, runs the Beach Plum Cove B&B on Nantucket Island.
Lisa enjoys frequent visits from her daughters and grandchildren, who regularly show up for breakfast on Saturday.
One of the guests at Lisa's B&B is Taylor Abbott, a fledgling journalist......
......who roomed with Lisa's daughter Abby in college.
Taylor just moved to Nantucket to become a reporter for Nantucket's weekly newspaper, and she's staying at the B&B until her rental cottage is ready.
At the B&B, Taylor enjoys chatting with innkeeper Lisa and Lisa's husband Rhett Byrne, who runs an upscale restaurant called Rhett's. Rhett is concerned about the eatery's accounts, because profits are low given the restaurant's success. Rhett fears an employee might be ripping him off and installs hidden cameras to see what's what.
As soon as Taylor settles in she starts work at the Nantucket newspaper. There Taylor meets her supervisor Blake.....
.....fellow reporters Joe and Victoria, and other members of the staff.
Wanting to fit in, Taylor joins her colleagues for trivia night at a nearby pub and for the occasional after-work drink.
Taylor is very attracted to Blake - who's friendly, genial and handsome - but she knows it's a bad idea to date the boss, so she keeps her distance. In the meantime, Blake's mother keeps trying to play matchmaker, dangling beautiful women under his nose.
One of Taylor's assignments is to interview the owner of a new needlepoint store, and Taylor decides to enroll in a beginner's needlepoint class with her good friend Abby. Abby confides that she and her husband are struggling to conceive a second child, and this is one of the story's plotlines.
Since Taylor is a newbie reporter, she tries to learn from her more experienced colleagues Joe and Victoria. However Taylor finds that Victoria's methods are a bit dodgy. Victoria likes to take candid photos of newsworthy people, then write gossipy stories about them. Thus Victoria photographs a romantic-comedy actress and her co-star doing a movie scene, and makes it seem like they're having a romance.
Victoria does the same thing with a well-known marketing executive and her ex-husband, who are attending the same business conference.
This publicity could cause trouble in the subjects' REAL relationships, but Victoria doesn't seem to care. In a way this works to Taylor's benefit, because she snags an interview with a famous person who's peeved at Victoria.
Taylor does this celebrity interview at Nantucket's 'Daffodil Festival', which she's writing about for the newspaper. The festival features a classic car parade - in which Blake and his dad participate - followed by posh tailgate parties.
Many of these tailgate fetes have private chefs who prepare steak and lobster, and appetizers like sushi, stuffed mushrooms, caviar, foie gras, fried chicken strips, and scallops wrapped in bacon.
Steak and Lobster
Sushi
Stuffed Mushrooms
Caviar and Foie Gras
Fried Chicken Strips
Scallops wrapped in bacon
In the course of the story Taylor hobnobs with her friend Abby and Abby's siblings; enjoys working in the newspaper's dog-friendly office; interviews a mystery book writer; makes cute needlepoint tchotchkes; gets a visit from her dad; eats pizza and watches movies; and more. To see the story's more dramatic occurrences, you'll have to read the book. 🙂
This is a pleasant homey book, perfect for an afternoon's relaxing reading.
Thanks to Netgalley, Pamela Kelley, and Piping Plover Press for a copy of the book.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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